Gundam Wing: Wing 00 Version
by Airezi
Summary: This is not another hero original original character, just another pilot with strengths and weaknesses like the others. A retelling of the great story we know with another pilot integrated. There are NO plot changes to the original series and no yaoi.
1. Teaser

**A.C. 182, Sanc Kingdom**

The morning sun was just clearing the horizon, but the stables had been full of activity for hours already. Horses could be heard chomping at their feed, occasionally stamping a hoof in the deep bedding. Two small shadows appeared in the wide-open main door, and an elderly groom squinted at them. "Well good morning Prince Millardo," he grinned, nodding his head in respect. "And to you as well princess Alexandra." The blond toddler looked up at him eagerly.

"Horsie please," she said simply.

"Lexa, shhh." Millardo scolded gently, still holding tight to his young sisters hand. He turned back to the groom, formally asking, "May we see the new foal please Sir?"

"Of course you can," the man replied, motioning them down the hallway. Millardo loved the stables; riding was his favorite of all the lessons his father made him study. During them he felt connected to his heroes, the chivalrous knights of old England. "Millionaire and her new baby are right in here." A grin grew on the stable mans weathered face as the prince lifted the small girl up so she could see over the door, quietly reminding her to be quiet and not scare the foal.

"Would you like to go in and pet her?" Alexa nodded so hard that Millardo nearly dropped her. With a small laugh the groom swung open the stall door, reminding the children to be quiet and gentle. The mother horse watched them enter, then unconcerned turned back to her breakfast. Her soft, brown foal on the other hand watched them with curious eyes, not sure what to make of these two legged creatures so close to his own size.

"Hosie!" Alexa whispered loudly, reaching forward to feel the brown fur. The old groom watched from the door as both children stoked the inquisitive foal. Hearing shouts from outside he turned away for a minute, wondering what was wrong. Men scurried past the door, shouting to each other and all running the same direction.

"Millardo make sure they don't get out of the stall," he distractedly told the six year old, half closing the door as he hurried outside. When their guardian didn't return after several minutes Millardos' eyes grew worried and he kept glancing at the stall door.

"Lexa stay here, and be nice to the baby," he commanded his sister, quickly leaving the stall and latching the half door before striding outside. Unconcerned, his sister continued to pat the foal on its small nose.

Nearly an hour passed, both youngsters grew tired and lay down in the clean straw. Alexa's arm thrown over the foals skinny shoulder as they slept. "See anyone?" A male voice called down the empty stable hallway and Alexa stirred at the noise.

"Nothing but horses," another replied. A head popped over the half door as a solider looked into the stall with Alexa and the two horses. "Hey! I found someone, it's a little kid." As he opened the door another solider appeared.

"Hey, you shouldn't just set your gun down like that!" he growled, grabbing the rifle styled gun the other had leaned against the wall.

"It's not like she's going to try and kill me," his companion scoffed, laying a gentle hand on the girls should to wake her. "Must be one of the stable hands kids," he said as Alexa blinked sleepily up at him. "Come here kiddo, let's go."

"Her clothes are way too nice to be some grooms kid," the other muttered still holding both guns. "And we're supposed to shoot anyone of a high rank," he added, looking uncomfortably at the little girl still waking up in his companions arms.

"So you're going to kill a little kid?" the other spit back angrily.

"Of course not!"

"Come on, let's just put her in the truck and get her out of this demolished country."

"You going to bring her home?"

"No, but life in an orphanage has to be better than being left here."

"All right, let's go then before the colonel wants to know where we went."

"Mill!" Alexa cried out, finally waking up as the solider carried her from the stall.

"Who's she crying for?"

"Mill?" the one holding her replied, confused.

"Oh, must be the horse," his companion replied, gesturing to the bronze nameplate that read Millionaire in looping, engraved letters.

"Must be," the other agreed, shifting the young girl into a more secure grip.

"Mill," she whimpered again as they began to leave. By the time they walked out the main door Alexa's eyes were brimming with tears. She didn't know the man carrying her, and her brother had told her to stay with the horsies. Confused tears blinded the young princess and she never saw the burning remains of her home as the OZ soldiers carried her from the destroyed Sanc Kingdom.


	2. The Shooting Star She Saw

_A/N- Ok, this is going to be a little long, but it will explain a lot. I hate to say it, but the first chapter you just read was merely a teaser, you won't actually read about that scene for quite a while. Trust me, if you had this chapter first you probably wouldn't be reading the second one. But before you quit let me explain quick what I'm trying to do with this story. I want to integrate a new gundam pilot into the series without making any changes to the plot. So the plan is to write a chapter per episode, adding in my characters role in the series. In order to make a good story I don't have time to retell the entire episode, so at the beginning of each chapter I will include a short summary, and I'm assuming most people reading will have a general idea what is going on. This will allow me to do better work on the new portions of each episode that I'm adding. This also means that some chapters will be very short, others longer depending on how much 'screen time' the new pilot has in each episode. However if anyone feels confused or lost feel free to pm me, I have all the episodes on DVD and can easily clear up any plot holes. I think that's it, please enjoy and review to tell me how I'm doing (good or bad)._

* * *

**Episode 1: The shooting star she saw**

_Summary: In rebellion to their suppression by earth the space colonies put into action a plan named operation meteor, sending mobile suits to earth to fight. The pilot Heero is ambushed on entry by an OZ official, Zechs, causing his gundam to crash into the ocean while he washes up on shore and is discovered by Relena. Later when Heero shows up at her school and she recognizes him he states that he will kill her. Meanwhile the other gundams complete their first missions, wreaking havoc on earth._

* * *

On board Zech's ship:

Lieutenant Zechs had just received a report on the recent attacks of OZ operations around the globe. "Doesn't it look a lot like the one we saw?" he asked the two subordinates with him. While they began to fret about the attacks Zechs' mind remained cool as he wondered what path humankind had just started down.

"So there are 4 of these things?" asked one of the pilots, interrupting his thoughts.

"5 if you count the one we shot down. Possibly 6. One of the bases reported attacks on both fronts before they lost contact." He replied, not hold back any information; soldiers needed to be prepared for anything they might face.

"5 or 6 gundams!" The lowly solider had a fearful look on his face, and Zechs almost grinned. He wondered how many more would suddenly regret their occupation when the taste of real war was on their tongue.

"Yes, we're lucky we got out alive."

* * *

Landing site of Wing 02 and 00

"Now I've just got to blast my way out of here. Alexa, you almost ready?" Duo Maxwell called out to his partner over the comm link as he survey the battered OZ base once more.

"Yep!" Duo caught the prompt reply and his communications screen flickered on. On the screen Alexas eager face appeared, white-blond hair plaited into two, tight French braids, and blue eyes shining with success. "And I've got some nice juicy data from their memory banks."

"Great! Let's blow this pop stand then!" With that Duo turned his gundam towards the outer wall, carving a hole through the fragile material with his scythe.

"Hey!" the girl yelped, "Give me a second to close the cockpit! Geez!"

"Oops!" Duo laughed, knowing that she was just giving him a hard time. The silvery eyes of her gundam lit up as it stood erect and Alexa followed Duo through the damaged wall as the tag team disappeared from the demolished base.


	3. The Gundam Deathscythe

**Episode 2- The Gundam Deathscythe**

_Summary: Amidst searching OZ troops Duo finds the Wing Gundam underwater. He stops it from self-detonating then brings it up to the surfaces. Heero is trying to destroy the Gundam before OZ finds it but Relena has left her birthday part to follow him and gets in the way. Duo shoots Heero to stop him from launching the missiles but Heero still launches the weapons and both gundams sink._

Searching OZ vessels:

"Try and survive that kind of torpedo shower!" The captain gloated at his ship randomly attacked the waters surrounding them for the unknown enemy. The alarms on the bridge abruptly went off. "What is it?" He called desperately. The neighboring ship spontaneously exploded into a scorching fireball, the pieces hissing as they struck the warm ocean. Terror appeared on the faces of the crewmen of the other ship, and grew as a black gundam suit shot out of the water and landed on their deck. Frozen in fear none had time to even scream as it sliced off the top of the command tower. A helicopter hovering nearby spun around in an effort to escape, but bullets shot from the guns on the gundams head and sent it spinning into the waves.

"You'll all die." Duo stated, scanning the horizon for more ships. "Anyone who sees me has got a date with his maker."

"Don't I get any credit for sinking the other ship?" Alexas' voice rolled from the comm. link.

"Maybe," came Duo's playful retort. "Now let's go find whatever it was that they're searching for. It's gotta be important to have so many suits out looking for it."

"Right," Alexa nodded in agreement, directing her gundam back into the sea. "I'll take the northern section, you look around the south side. And don't waste time, we knocked them out pretty fast but someone's bound to notice that these ships aren't responding to transmission."

"Roger that." Duo replied, switching mental gears back to the mission as he steered Deathsycthe down into the waves.

Later near the sunken Wing Gundam:

"I'll get you!" A minor solider cried as the black gundam appeared before him and sliced up his colleagues mobile suit. Sending his Cancer suit crashing into the gundam, the solider began firing explosives from right on top of the black MS. When he finally shook his mobile suit free the Gundam lay still in the water. "I did it! I defeated it Lieutenant Zechs!" he cried proudly—before Duo recovered and sliced the underwater MS into oblivion with his scythe.

"That new armor of OZ's is pretty tough." Duo muttered to himself, rubbing his head where he had hit is during the fight. "So that's what they were searching for," he said, catching sight of the gundam lying on the ocean floor. Something about the blinking lights rang a bell in the boys mind. "It's on self-detonate mode. Hey! This suit is identical to mine, even the location of the self-detonation device." Moving sluggishly through the water he maneuvered Deathscythe over to the new gundam and gently plunged the tip of his beam weapon into the self-detonation device, shutting it off. "No need to destroy a good gundam. I'll just use it for my backup supply!" He grinned, flipping on the comm. link. "Hey Alexa, I found what OZ was looking for, and you're not going to believe this."

"What is it Duo?" her reply crackled over the weak link.

"Another gundam, I'm gonna haul it up to the surface. Can you clear us out a nice landing spot on the beach?" Duo winked over the video link, idiot grin still on his face from the pleasure of finding the gundam.

"Another gundam?" Alexa murmured to herself, barely hearing the second half of Duo's speech. She shook her head, blond braids gently whapping her neck, and focused on the task at hand once more. "Yeah, I'll hurry back to the surface and find somewhere safe. Catch ya later." She turned on Starfires jets to push them back towards the surface, aiming her gundam at an angle that would bring them up close to shore.

_I wonder whose gundam it is._ She thought as the mobile suit raced forward. _And more importantly, where are they?_

In a few short minutes she had reached the shoreline, and quickly scouted out a shipyard that seemed deserted. Sending the coordinates to Duo she left Starfire in the relative shallows of the harbor, and began a quick scan of the place for somewhere to hide the gundams. Alexa padded quietly through the concrete warehouse, hardly any echoes of footsteps rolled back to her ears from the bare walls of the shipyard.

"Perfect," she muttered in satisfaction, peering around the cavernous room designed for ship repair. They could get any of the gundams out of the water with hardly any chance of being spotted, and hopefully they could figure out where to keep them more permanently before the morning shift showed up. Faint gunshots reached her ears, and Alexa spun out to face the bay, blue eyes searching for the source. A figure in black at the end of the pier caught her attention, and the girl began jogging stealthily towards it, slipping a knife from her boots without losing stride. Breathing quietly she almost glided the last few feet to the crates stacked near the end of the pier, angry voices drifted over from just out of her field of vision.

"Stop it! What do you want to shoot him for?" A girls voice echoed angrily.

"Hey wait a minute!"

_Duo! _Alexa realized, inching forward a bit and preparing to rush in if he needed her help. The gundanium knife in her hand vibrated slightly with the tension of waiting. Alexa flinched a little as she heard the sound of something ripping, but instinct told her just before she blew her cover that the noise wasn't dangerous.

"Great, how come I end up as the bad guy here?" Duo muttered loudly just as his wristband began beeping. "It's already reached the surface. Must've miscalculated the tide…" The lap of the waves hitting the walls of the pier changed slightly and Alexa quietly began to heave herself on top of the crates.

"What in the world is that?" The girls voice questioned. Alexa had only a second to see the ocean surface break and reveal the topmost part of Deathscythe and the new gundam before Duo suddenly lofted up a blinding light.

"Don't look lady! Now I'm sure you've got your reasons for being here but you better just walk away. Save yourself a lot of grief" There was a grunt, the crash of a body onto something metallic. Still blinded by Duo's light Alexa tried vainly to pinpoint the action.

"You haven't had enough?" Duo shouted, recklessly firing off several shots.

"It's my mobile suit!" A familiar voice yelled back and Alexa froze in shock. The spots in front of her eyes cleared and she saw the group of missiles flying through the air towards the gundams.

"What are you doing you fool?" Duo yelled again in frustration.

"Finally everything is finished, mission complete." The quiet words shouldn't have been audible to Alexa, ten feet away from their source—but they were. The voice that spoke them was the one she had trained with for as long as she could remember. She was so attuned to listening to the voice that her ears could catch any whisper from it—and know exactly what was being asked of her.

"No!" Duo's cry of dismay washed over her with no impact.

_Heero…_ her brain kept playing the name over and over in an endless loop. Her blue eyes were locked on the young boy as he landed heavily in the oily water next to the pier. Tunnel vision blocked out Duo and the strange girl with a petrified look on her face. All Alexa saw were the slowly sinking limbs, and the mop of brown hair fanning out in the water.


	4. Five Gundams Confirmed

**Episode 3- Five Gundams confirmed**

_Summary: Heero has ended up in a hospital with the solider Sally Po who tries to get information about him from Relena. Duo comes and frees him but Heero tries to commit suicide until Relena's cry stops him. Meanwhile Quatre and Trowa attack the same base and begin to fight one another until Quatre steps out of his gundam saying that it isn't right to fight one another. Duo raises both gundam 01 & 02 while Heero fixes his leg_.

* * *

Outside the Alliance hospital:

"Thanks, I'll help you thresh the wheat later," Duo hung up the pay phone he had been talking on, stepping out of the booth and looking up at the hospital building before him. "Now, I should go visit that patient. You coming with Alexa?"

The blond pilot sat on a weathered park bench nearby, arms crossed over her chest as she stared up at the top story windows. "I'm going in, not you." She replied, keeping her gaze locked on the building.

"Hey now, I'm not sure what the deal is between you and this guy but that doesn't mean you can order me around on a mission!" Duo's voice wasn't mad, more annoyed at being bossed around, but it was still enough to draw Alexas' gaze earthward again. Silently she looked at him, blue eyes cold and emotionless, until Duo gave a little shiver and shifted uneasily. "What's up with you 'Lex? I've never seen you freeze during a fight before, then all the sudden this kid shows up and not only do you freeze, but you have like a total personality shift…." His voice trailed off and a flicker of sad emotion crossed Alexa's face.

"Fine," She almost spat out, pushing herself roughly into a standing position. "If you don't trust me, go break him out yourself. I'll erase his record from the hospital memory banks." Her short ponytail swung a little as she turned away from Duo, walking away with hands shoved defiantly into the pockets of the loose, black pants that hung from her hips.

"Hey, I didn't say I didn't trust you!" Duo called after her, face wrinkled in confusion. "I just wanna know how you know him that's all!" Alexa continued walking, stepping lightly over the concrete sidewalk as Duo watched. "Geez, girls!" He muttered to himself as he picked up his bag and started off after Alexa to make plans on breaking in. "I don't think I'll ever understand them!"

* * *

Inside the hospital:

The roar of an explosion hit Alexas' ears milliseconds after the shock wave did. With a grunt she fell to her knees in the middle of the linoleum hallway. "Idiot," she muttered to herself, jumping up again. "Why does he always have to do it the noisy way?" Peering around the corner to see if the coast was clear she dashed forward and wrenched the door open, instinctively catching it before it slammed noisily into the wall.

"Huh?" the medic manning the console just had time to look over his shoulder before she sent him crashing to the floor with a heavy fist. His foot caught the chair as he fell and it tumbled to the gray speckled linoleum, twisting and trapping his legs around it. Satisfied that he would be out for a bit, Alexa turned to the computer screen before her. Callused fingers flew over the keyboard as she began erasing all records and video from the containment room for the last few hours. On the edge of her vision she saw Duo and Heero hurrying through the blast hole and out of the room. "Good," she said to herself, finishing her work and forcing the computer to crash and erase all digital tracks of her intrusion. "Time to fly."

Alexa ignored the smoke and dust still hanging in the air from the blast Duo had created, as she pelted down the stairs from the observation room. Another explosion rocked the complex and the girl slammed into the wall but kept moving.

"Geronimo!" Duo's voice rang faintly through the metallic halls over the security alarms and Alexa hurried down the passage towards it.

"The explosion came from there!" A female voice echoed down the hall and the pilot froze instantly, avoiding capture was usually easier than trying to escape later. But the two women that flew down the corridor intersecting hers didn't spare a glance to the side; they were too intent on reaching the chaos. Unseen she followed after them to the hole Duo had blasted through the outer wall.

"Oh no! HEERO!" Alexa experienced a shock that the girl knew her comrades real name, but she didn't stop, roughly shoving the two women aside and following the boys flight through the gapping escape hole.

"It's way too late now!" she heard Duo cry out below her. Clinging two handed to the spinning light rod that allowed her to sink rather than fall through the air Alexa risked a glance downward to see what he was yelling about. A gasp broke through her lips as she saw Heero plummeting towards the rocky shore, too close for the only half open parachute to stop him. Sickened she watch him hit and roll with incredible speed down the steep slope and onto the shore. Luckily Heero struggled quickly to his feet, though he didn't put any weight on one leg.

Moments later Alexa landed gently a few feet from the two pilots, listening to Duo finish his angry tirade, "Now I can understand wanting to take your own life, but next time just maybe you can think of another way of committing suicide buddy!" Duo was furious, he saw no point in rescuing someone who just planned to kill himself. "I'm not asking you to trust me or anything, but right now I'm the only friend you've got pal." The braided boy slung Heeros' arm over his own shoulders to support him. "And Alexa too," he added spotting her.

"Let's get out of here," the girl said simply, as she pulled the gundanium knife from her leather-brown boots and began looking around for enemies. Duo nodded and began hauling a limping Heero back towards the abandoned harbor.

* * *

On the dredge barge-

"There, I've pulled yours up too. You could at least show a little gratitude. Huh, what's he doing?" Duo commonly kept up a running commentary with himself, and Alexa listened with only half an ear as she checked to make sure all three gundams were secure from falling back into the sea. Behind her she heard Heero grunting, and turned slightly to see what was up. Duo grimaced as they heard a loud crack and Heero rolled to his feet.

"Uww, I can't take much more of this. He just goes and puts a broken bone back into place. Man it just totally grossed me out thinking about it!" Duo said, cringing. Alexa rolled her eyes a little.

"Well what else was he gonna do? It's not like we can take him to the doctor's and get it fixed." The pilot asked her companion, powering down the controls. When Duo didn't have an answer she continued, "I'm going down to make sure they're covered up, we'll leave when dusk falls."

Walking with efficient strides she headed down the catwalk to the stairs that would take her to the main deck. Her shadow brushed over Heero as he stood, staring down at the dripping mobile suits. Alexa's steps hesitated for a moment as she passed, watching him from the corner of her eye. Heero turned, his dark blue eyes locking with her lighter ones for just a moment, then he set off down the steps. Alexa gave a start and hustled after him. Wordlessly they dragged out the giant sheets of canvas stored in the gundams for concealment in situations like this. Quickly with the ease of practice they covered Deathscythe and Starfire from prying eyes, deciding that Wing Gundam was well hidden enough in the water. As Heero tugged the last corner down Alexa couldn't stand it any more and broke the silence.

"He told me that you were dead," her voice was calm and steady, but the girl pilot rocked nervously, perched on top of the gundams canvas covered leg.

"J did?" Heero replied, not looking up at her as he made sure the wind wouldn't catch the edge of the fabric and blow it up.

She nodded, "He said you were crushed when the MS bay collapsed." Taking strength from his silence she slid to join him on the salt-crusted metal of the deck. "Then he told me that it was too dangerous to try and return to L1, that I had to disappear on L2."

"Hmm," the boy replied, finally looking up from his work and straightening to look her in the eye. His gaze was cold and unblinking, but she matched his stare, blue eyes asking questions though her mouth didn't move. Simultaneously they looked away, out over the water that glittered with the setting sun. "Did you really believe that?" Heero finally asked.

"I thought it was too coincidental that there just so happened to be another scientist creating a gundam on L2 but…" her voice trailed off, shame flushing over her face.

"But you still believed that I was dead." Heero spoke up; it was a statement, not a question.

"I accepted that you were, all our training wouldn't let me do otherwise. It was easiest that way. What mattered was the mission, not fallen comrades. There is no time to grieve, only train and plan." Alexa recited the sentences almost as though they were lines she had learned by rote, and from the glint of recognition in Heeros' eyes they may have been.

"Hey guys!" Duos' voice rolled down from the level above. "I found the kitchen in this place, and there's actually some good stuff!"

"I hope you didn't eat it all you glutton!" Alexa challenged back, shifting into her more playful personality. Duo grinned down impishly at her in response.

"Well you better hurry up and find out!" he retorted, disappearing back inside. Eagerly Alexa started up the stairs after him.

"Wait." The verbal command stopped her as fast as a hand on her arm, and inwardly the solider cringed at the depth obedience and loyalty had been drilled into her. "Alexa I'm doing this on my own. I'll live and die on my missions because of my own actions."

Furiously she spun to face him, "Are you saying I'm useless?!?" Emotion actually appeared on Heeros' face at her outburst, but the stunned expression quickly reverted into the soliders blank stare that was his mask. "Doctor J trained us both to be pilots," Alexa continued, not quite yelling but still angry. "I can fight just as well in a mobile suit as you can. I can hack any computer or data disk just as fast, escape from almost any type of prison, create explosives that even experts can't detect until it's too late." Breathing heavily she looked at Heero with flashing eyes. "You know I can fight any battle just as well as you can."

"You'll just get in my way." Heero stated, matching her stare with one of his own. For several seconds they glared at each other again, but at some unspoken signal broke off.

"We were a team Heero…a good one…what happened to that?" Alexa looked back at him with curious and sad eyes, but Heero refused to meet her gaze.

"Let's go eat." He said, ending the conversation. The girl pilot hesitated for just a moment, and then started up the stairs again, still wondering what had happened to her best friend.

* * *

A/N- Ok that it for this episode, please R&R. Also I just wanted to say that I hope the interaction between Heero and Alexa doesn't come off as boyfriend/girlfriend, just as close friends and comrades. Hopefully I succeeded, I just don't want to lead anyone astray! 


	5. The Victoria Nightmare

**Episode 4- The Victoria Nightmare**

_Summary: Wufei attacks a training base for Oz where Lucrezia Noin, an old friend of Zechs, is teaching. He kills some of the cadets, really upsetting Noin who chases after him in a mobile suit. But she is easily beaten in the battle with him. Heero sets off on a new mission with parts he stole from the Deathscythe while Quatra and Trowa are becoming friends. _

* * *

Howards'repair shop  


"Hey you, I'm calling you!" Alexa raised her head as she heard Duo yelling, thinking that he was talking to her. She watched him stride over to Heero working on fixing his gundam and grinned. Her friend was still totally perplexed by Heeros' attitude, what he had originally thought was just acting had solidified into real behavior. The girl pilot turned back to her mobile suit, examining the gundams head for any damages that may not have registered on the computer scan. Studiously she ran her fingers over the swept back spike that arrayed the head, sensing rather than seeing the chips and scratches.

_Silly,_ she thought, _so long as I can still battle with Starfire it doesn't matter how it looks. _Absently though she continued admiring the gundam with her blue eyes, momentarily forgetting the repairs. Primarily a soft black color, the gundam was built along similar lines to the Wing Gundam, proportioned for all around fighting. The lightning bolt shaped spikes on the head were silver plated, along with other portions of the machines' edging and weaponry. With the ease of practice Alexa stepped from the head of the gundam and began to stride down its left arm, scanning several dents and evaluating the damage. She eyed the top of the thick shield when she reached it, noting that the silver color radiating in sharp needles from a spot in the center was undamaged.

"Looks good, she muttered to herself, scrambling back up to the cockpit to continue the computer scan. She began an in depth examination of the chain that circled, snakelike, up the gundams' left arm. When the chain became superheated it contracted so the spiked segments pointed outward. During battle the weapon could either remain wrapped around the gundams' arm for close combat, or released and swung, whip-like, to lash at enemy mobile suits. It was also the most delicate weapon on the gundam; the connections between the segments were fairly easy to jam and kept the chain from swinging freely.

"Well excuse me for being a mere mortal!" Duo was again ranting loudly but as he walked away Alexa saw doubt over-riding the disgruntled look on his face.

He just doesn't get that Heero wants to fight alone; Duo never has a problem accepting people that want to help him. She thought as the longhaired boy wandered by to check on his gundam. Well Heero always has been a loner, I'll leave him alone too…once I get some answers. Shrugging and deciding to do it later she turned back to prepping Starfire for another battle.

Hours later an exhausted Duo watched Heero still plugging away at his gundam and shook his head in disbelief. He turned his back on the other pilot and headed to the room where the rest of the techs where already snoring. Passing by Starfire he caught sight of Alexa still working too, her pants blending into the black metal as she kneeled on the hatch. "You're not staying up all night too are you?" He yawned, walking over to her.

"Hmm?" she responded, looking briefly at him before turning back to make sure the metal sheets were fitting together securely. "I want to make sure this is done in case something comes up."

"Just leave it until morning," Duo said, yawning again as he leaned against the leg of the suit. Even in his tired state he couldn't help admiring the gundam, his fingers resting appreciatively on the cool metal. Starfires' main color was black like his own gundam, but scattered patches of silver blended seamlessly into the base color, giving the mobile suit the illusion of being wrapped in the night sky. Yawning so hard that it made his jaw ache Duo continued, "Howard and his guys can help you then and it'll go twice as fast."

"I like fixing it on my own thanks," Alexa replied, sliding into the cockpit to access the main computer.

"Fine, you sound just like that guy," Duo muttered to himself. Alexa caught the words though and she tensed, knowing what was coming. For a second Duo hesitated, then he turned his face up and asked, "What's the deal with him Lex?"

"What do you mean?" she responded, hoping against hope that he wouldn't press the matter.

"You know him Lex, now tell me what's up!" The girl looked up in surprise, Duos' voice had come out almost as an angry growl. He took a deep breath and continued, "We've trained together for almost two years now, I know well enough when you're keeping something from me." His eyes flashed with annoyance as he glared upwards at her, "You can't keep stuff from a comrade during a mission unless you want to wind up dead." Slowly Alexa set the laptop she had been using down on the gundams chest.

"He and I trained together, before I ended up on L2," she said simply, uncomfortably drumming her fingers on the edge of the cockpit. Duo watched her silently, shifting into a more comfortable position against the gundam to wait for a worthwhile answer.

"That's it Duo," Alexa added firmly. "He's fighting for the same reasons we are, so just let him go at it his own way." Since he was still looking at her skeptically Alexa shifted tactics, grinning down at her friend, "Why? You jealous?"

"No, I just don't like how him being around has totally changed your attitude." Duo answered honestly as he looked across the hanger to where Heero was still working persistently. "I'm worried about what'll happen in our next fight."

Alexa frowned, "We'll fight, that's what will happen." Duo gave a sigh, his shoulders sinking as he exhaled noisily. "Look Duo, he's on our side…"

"Right…" he interrupted.

"Trust me," Alexa retorted, a little anger coloring her voice. "Capeesh?"

"Capeesh," Duo finally relented, still staring at Heero as he worked.

"He's a good pilot," Alexa added, turning back to her computer scans. "Try not to make him your enemy."

"I won't," Duo said as he yawned once more. "If he learned how to fight with you I know better." He smirked up at from under his brown bangs, and Alexa laughed back. Duo bit back another yawn as he walked away. "I'll see you in the morning." Alexa watched him walk away from the corner of her eye, typing only by instinct on the computer.

_No Duo, you won't…I'm sorry,_ she apologized mentally, watching him disappear.

* * *

"What's going on?" Duo yelled as he ran from the hanger the next morning, trying to be heard over the roar of the engines that had awakened him a minute before. "Unreal, I don't believe it! The guy's incredible! He fixed his machine in one night!" He watched in awe as the Wing Gundam took off and vaulted through the morning sky, quickly shrinking on the blue horizon. 

"Oh no! We've been had!" One of the technicians exclaimed from inside and the gundam pilot turned to look. "He took his parts from this suit!"

"What! I was just complimenting him! Traitor!" Duos braid whipped at his back as he spun around and screamed at the retreating gundam.

"Looks like Alexa took off with him too," Howard spoke matter of factually as he appeared.

"Huh?" Duos response was confused as he looked back into the hanger and suddenly noticed the empty space Alexas' gundam had occupied when he went to bed. "She…she didn't…." the pilots voice was breathy with shock.

Comfortingly Howard laid a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, she'll be back." With those simple words the old man began to walk away.

"She betrayed us, what makes you think she'll come back?" Duo spat on the ground as he glared at Howard.

"She paid me," the man grinned back at the young pilot as he replied, reveling in the shock that grew on Duos' face. "She's not burning any bridges, that girl. She'll come back."

* * *

En Route to mission

"Alexa I told you, I fight alone," Heeros' voice came clearly over the intercom and though they weren't using the vid screens Alexa set her face in a stubborn frown.

"And I already told you, either work with me on this mission, or make stupid mistakes when I fight anyways and you didn't plan for it." Silence ruled the comm. link for a moment, and then Alexa continued in a more collected tone, "One battle Heero, as comrades, then you can fight missions alone again." The girl pilot waited impatiently for him to answer as she directed her gundam towards their target.

"Why does one battle matter so much?" He muttered, obviously frustrated with her as he was letting bits of emotions through. A grin flickered across Alexas' face that he still trusted her enough to reveal this human side of him.

"You have your mission and I have mine," was all she said before falling back into silence to wait for his response.

"Fine," Heero answered after a moment, Alexa grinned. "I'll take down the main target," he continued, setting up a basic attack plan. "You're in charge of keeping anything from sneaking up on me. It should be an easy mission, let's get in and out fast."

"Roger that," the blond pilot responded, double-checking that her gundam was battle ready. She maneuvered Starfire to fly just behind Heero, in the slipstream of the Wing Gundam. _They'll won't even know we hit them until we're gone_, she thought, grinning as the two pilots flew to battle.

* * *

_A/N- Hopefully you're getting a picture of the type of character Alexa is, it's hard to do when there is such limited face time for her in each episode. But I guess not much is revealed about the other characters until the series has progressed a bit more either, so you'll just have to wait for the explanations!_


	6. Relenas Secret

**Episode 5: Relena's Secret**

* * *

_Summary: Mr. Daurlin brings Relena along when he goes to the colonies. Lady Une plants a bomb to kill Mr. Daurlin but he lives long enough to tell Relena that her real name is Peacecraft. Relena is saved from OZ and meets Dr.J who warns her to stay away from Heero. Meanwhile Trowa leaves Quatre and the Maquanac core while Heero saves Duos' life in a battle._

* * *

Middle of nowhere:

"How's the scan look now?" Alexa registered Heeros' voice as it drifted into the cockpit. Her blue eyes scanned over the screen, following the flow of digital lettering as it appeared.

"It looks the same as before, all the readings are saying normal." She replied, leaning out of the cockpit and looking down at where Heero stood on the gundams' arm. Grunting in frustration he bent down to the open panel again and began digging through the wires and metalwork. "What's the matter with it?" Alexa asked, slipping down to join him.

"The response time is slow setting up the reload for the gun," he explained, continuing to

poke and prod the inside of the machine. Alexa merely watched for a minute, her eyes drooping tiredly. They had returned from their last mission hours ago, disguising the gundams with the camouflage nets and working on the minor repairs and adjustments they had been unable to finish at Howards' warehouse.

"Ok," she responded, jumping to the ground and heading towards Starfire. Heero didn't watch her leave, continuing to work on the sensors. Finally, he brushed brown bangs from his eyes, glancing at the digital clock, though the darkness growing outside already told him that it was getting late. Massaging his neck with one hand to relieve the cramped muscles Heero lowered himself to the ground.

"Hey Alexa, you ready to go?" He called over. When she didn't respond he walked over to the black gundam, crouched down on one knee as it attempted to hide amongst the trees. "Alexa?" Heero called softly, dark blue eyes looking around for his companion. "Hmm…." Quietly he began scaling the gundam, knowing fingers finding the natural made handholds of the armor. Carefully he eased himself up and into a sitting position on the gundams shoulder.

In the hollow between shoulder armor and neck Alexa lay, curled up fast asleep. A worn blanket draped her frame, the brown/green color giving it the air of military surplus. A small smile crept onto Heeros' face as he watched silently. The blanket rose and fell regularly with the girls breathing, and the pale light from new rising moon glittered off parts of the blanket as it moved. _So she's still got that old thing, _Heero thought to himself.

A memory flashed across his mind, a shadowy figure handing a shivering, young Alexa the blanket that even then looked old and worn. Later the two of them sat in a bare room, Alexa relentlessly stabbing at the thick fabric.

"I want stars on it," her young voice determined as the thick material resisted her stabs with the needle. Soundlessly Heero watched her drag the glittery silver cord through the hole she made. "There," Alexa exclaimed proudly, holding the blanket up to show him. "How's it look?" Tentatively the young Heero reached forward and just let his fingertips touch the thin, silver cord, as though human skin might cause it to melt away. The outlined star she had made was crooked under his fingers, the fabric bunched in a strange fashion from the uneven pull on it, but Heero nodded all the same. "Good!" Alexa grinned happily, pulling the blanket close to her and hugging it tight.

"I know you heard me crawl up here Lex," Heero spoke as he stood up and the memory faded. "Let's go." The girl pilot lifted her head from the natural cradle in the armor.

"How did you know I was up here?" she asked quietly.

"It's where you always go," he replied simply, extending a hand. Alexa looked up at him, and smiled a little, her eyes thanking him for remembering something so seemingly insignificant. Without speaking they descended to the ground, Alexa stowing the star spangled blanket in Starfires' cockpit as they checked that the gundams were securely hidden before disappearing into the night.

* * *

Early the next morning:

The computer screen gave off a harsh light and beeped tonelessly as it blinked to life, the encoded text for a mission printing rapidly across the screen. Heero and Alexa both jerked awake at the sound, years of training hard wiring their brains to function immediately when eyes opened. Heero swung his legs off the edge of his bunk, striding over to view the screen.

"Target is north pacific ocean, OZ supply base," he read emotionlessly. "Roger that mission."

"Does he want it done right now?" Alexa questioned, looking at the other pilot from the edge of her bed.

"Yep, are you coming with?" Heero replied, turning the laptop off and gathering the few items they had brought inside. Alexa didn't answer for a minute, slipping on the brown hiking boots left within easy reach of the bed.

"I won't if you'll answer my question." The girl pilot asked as she sat up from tying the laces.

"What question is that?" Heero inquired as he picked up the laptop.

"One that you'll have to look at me when you answer," she retorted crossly. Immediately Heero swung his dark blue eyes up to meet her light ones, locking them in a full on stare. Alexa blinked in surprise from the quick reaction, but managed to keep the rest of her face emotionless. "Do you trust me to fight with you?" she gathered herself and asked him.

"If I didn't would I have let you follow me this long?" Heero shook his head slightly as he turned to leave.

"No Heero," Alexas voice was firm as she stood up. "I mean more than just not shooting me when we're a part of the same battle. If there's a mission that's too big for one person do you trust me to help you accomplish it? Would you believe any information on locations, numbers, weapons that I gave to you?" The gundam pilot halted before he walked through the door as she asked, the cover of the laptop glinting from the light coming inside.

"Do you trust me Heero?" Alexa asked again, watching his still form in the doorway.

"Yes," was the simple answer that rang in her ears. Then Heero pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked out. Alexa breathed a sigh of relief, twisting her hair up into a ponytail as she followed him. "But don't think that means you can boss me around," Heero surprised her by adding as she stepped outside.

"Aww! Come on!" She whined good-naturedly, grinning at her old friend as his eyes smiled back.

* * *

A/N- Sorry this took so long to post, it was originally longer, but then I realized the next part truly belonged in the next episode. But that will be up soon then since it's half done already, yeah! Please **R&R!**


	7. Party Night

**Episode 6: Party Night**

* * *

_Summary:__ Heero sets about deleting his existence at Relena's school, while she finally shows some backbone and drags him down to the party the school is hosting. Wufei attacks several bases, while Trowa returns to the circus and scares Catherine with his unflinching act and lack of fear. Mobile suits are sent out to kill Relena but Heero battles them in his gundam and saves her. Confused about why he did so he attempts to kill her himself and discovers that he cannot and flies off in anger._

* * *

At The circus-

"Where is that dimwit? He's up next." The ringmaster growled as he and Catherine waited near the arena entrance.

"He's right over there." The knife thrower responded, jumping down from her perch.

"You're late kid. Why can't you just stay here and wait like everyone else?" the man growled as Trowa walked up in his clown costume.

"I made it here on time, that's good enough."

"You punk!"

"We're up next," Catherine interjected smoothly. "The audience is waiting." Their boss hesitated, still looking annoyed with Trowas' attitude.

"Hmph. Get going"

After the act they were walking away from the ring when Trowa saw a figure disappear behind the animal pens. "Hey, you can't be back here," the clown spoke up as he strode around the lion cage.

"I just wanted to see the aminals…." The girl stuttered as she looked up at him from where she had fallen on the floor.

"What's going on here?" the ringmaster spoke loudly as he walked up from the other direction. "Letting your friends in backstage now? Boy you need to follow the rules…"

"She was already back here, relax!" Catherine interrupted, hands on her hips as she looked at her employer. The teenagers gaze softened as she knelt down beside the girl. "What are you doing back here sweetheart?"

"I wanted to see the aminals," she repeated shakily, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Well let's go find your parents shall we?" Catherine offered her hand out as she stood up. Wiping the tears from her eyes the girl stood up, looking nervously at the ringmaster as she stood next to Catherine. Trowa watched quietly, the girl was only a head shorter than him, but the French braids and her open blue eyes made her appear quite young. "Do you remember where your seats were for the show?" Catherine asked sweetly, still smiling.

"My mommy and daddy didn't bring me to the show," the girl whispered quietly, looking down at her brown boots.

"What are you doing then?" the ringmaster growled, tapping his foot impatiently. "Figured you would run away and join the circus?"

"Don't yell! You're upsetting her!" Catherine shot back angrily, pulling the girl closer. From within Catherines' protective embrace the youth finally met the ringmasters' gaze.

"I'm not running away!" she stated firmly, but then paused and spoke less surely. "But…I do need somewhere to stay for a few days."

"No freeloaders!"

"I can work! I'm strong, I can carry and fetch things and I know knots and…."

"Don't worry about it sweetie, you can stay for a couple days," Catherine broke in.

"I didn't say that!" The ringmaster said angrily, glaring at the knife thrower.

"Can you seriously turn away a kid in times like these? She can stay with me and help around the grounds a little. We won't be moving for a few days. Trowa and I will keep an eye on her, right Trowa?"

"Huh?" the gundam pilot looked up, he thought Catherine had forgotten he was there.

"Fine then, have it your way Catherine," the circus head said sternly, pointing his cane at the blond girl. "But only until we move youngster, got it? And make sure you do your share of the work!" She nodded vigorously in response and satisfied he walked away.

"Come on, we'll get you all settled then." The knife thrower started to say as another member of the circus ran up.

"Oh Cathy we need your help!" the costumed acrobat cried out, grabbing the other girls arm and pulling her swiftly back the way she had come. "Megan was practicing and…." Her voice trailed off as both girls disappeared around the corner. For a minute Trowa simply stood there, unsure what to do about the young girl beside him.

"I guess you can help me water the animals," he murmured, striding over and picking up several dented metal buckets, offering two to her.

"Sure," she responded, clutching them in both hands as she stared up with those bright blue eyes. "But could you tell me your name first?"

"Call me Trowa."

"Trowa what?" she asked. The two of them walked towards the water spigot, the girl so close on his heels that Trowa could here her braids slapping against her neck. "What's your last name," she asked once more, twisting on the water and starting to fill the bucket.

"Barton, Trowa Barton." He responded, watching her with cautious interest from behind his bangs.

"Like the Bartons who live on L3?" Her blue eyes had turned calculating and the boy felt a cold shiver. This time he merely nodded a response, keeping his face impassive. Nonchalantly she set down the full bucket and wheedled one clenched in his fist out to put under the tap. They watched it fill for a few moments, then she spoke again, "I heard some rumors that the Bartons were involved in some plans to rebel against the earth." She looked sideways at him, twisting the tap off as the second bucket filled.

Trowa looked at her in shock. _Who is this girl?_ He thought, studying her intently. _She's really not that young, _he realized, noticing that she wasn't that small but her attitude and posture had made her seem young. _And the French braids don't help her look older either,_ he noted, mentally steeling himself for the assault he saw brewing in her eyes.

"Who are you?" He spoke, hoping to get on the offensive side before she gained headway.

"A friend," she said, straightening up and looking him in the eye. "If you'll give me the chance." Trowa eyed her coolly, put off by the sincere smile on her face. The girl seemed to sense his apprehension, and added with a little hesitation, "I'll make you listen if I have to…but I would prefer not to blackmail you."

"I don't know what you're getting at kid," Trowa voiced, picking up two of the full buckets and starting the hike back to the tents. _Blackmail…_he thought, beginning to feel concerned.

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry next time, you forgot to secure the tarp onto the truck." Her words froze the tall pilot in his tracks, and he couldn't swallow for a second. Behind his back he heard her lift the other two buckets up, the soft crunch of wet sand meeting his ears. A moment later the girl walked up next to him, the thin handles of the buckets cutting into her curled fingers. "Should we go?" she asked, her face impassive as she looked up at him.

"What did you say your name was?" Trowa asked, the one green eye not hidden behind bangs measuring her coldly.

"Alexa." She replied, watching him curiously.

"Trowa there you are!" Catherine called, appearing from the big top and cutting off their conversation. "Are you showing our new friend around?"

* * *

Outside the circus grounds-

"So you knew this was here," Trowa stated as he appeared from the shadows into the clearing where he had parked his truck with Heavyarms loaded on it.

"I actually saw you driving it here," confessed Alexa, adding with grudging respect, "You did hide it well. And unless someone already had a tip off they would just think it was circus equipment until they got closer." Expressionless as always Trowa advanced toward the truck. From her perch on top of the wheel well Alexa handed him an insulated cup, heat steaming off the open top. The pilot nodded his thanks, taking a careful first sip to make sure it wouldn't burn his tongue. There was silence between them for several minutes; Alexa sitting cross-legged on the trailers surface while Trowa leaned against the side.

"Trowa Barton is dead," Alexa finally broke the silence, setting down her cup and staring up at the crystal stars. "You lied to me."

"It's not that uncommon of a name," the boy responded, hiding his face behind the cup of tea.

"It's uncommon enough that there are not going to be two gundam pilots by that name," the girl glared down at him. She had taken her hair out of the French braids, and with it swept back in a ponytail she looked much closer to his own age. The other pilot merely shrugged, as though it was not worth his time to contradict her again. "Trowa Barton was in charge of the original operation Meteor," she continued, watching the silent teenager for any response. "He was fast set in his beliefs of how it would work…. and his plans had no room for the portion titled Meteorite."

"Meteorite?" Trowas' mask slipped for just a moment as shock registered on his face, replaced quickly by sudden understanding. "That's who you are then, part of that project he tried to shut down. Hmm…" Trowa looked thoughtful as he set the empty cup down and folded his arms across his chest.

"So tell me the truth now." Alexa commanded gently, scooting to the edge of the trailer and letting her legs dangle over the side.

"I told you the truth. My name is Trowa Barton."

"You're in charge of operation M." she added simply, her gaze daring him to contradict her.

"No," Trowa shook his head to reinforce the word. "I was, but that operation failed the hour it was implemented due to acts of treason." The pilot looked pleased with himself as he leaned his head back so both green eyes could have an uninterrupted view of the stars. "And now I am merely fighting my own battles." Alexa shifted her gaze skyward again, pondering what he had said.

"You're well informed to know that the real Trowa Barton died," the male pilot interrupted her thoughts after a minute of quiet.

"It's my job to know things like that," she shrugged, still staring heavenward.

"Meteorite…" Trowa murmured. Sighing he closed his eyes and spoke again, "Shutting down that operation was his biggest concern when I first came up to the colonies. He said that as long as operation M was carried out like his family intended there would hardly be any need for the gundams, much less an intelligence fighter like the one Meteorite would create. Apparently his orders were not followed through as well as he hoped." The pilot cast a sideways glance at his companion, a silent question for more information.

"Well Doctor J did stop work on Meteorite," Alexa said slyly, an impish grin growing on her face. "But Barton wasn't smart enough to make sure he didn't just pawn me off on someone else."

Trowa nodded silently, "A good move on his part. It looks like this battle may take a bit longer than originally planned."

"But now it will be for the right reasons. I won't quit until the world and space are right again," Alexa swore, blue eyes cold and fierce.

"It's going to be an uphill battle," Trowa agreed, leaning more heavily on the trailer as though the weight of the world had been suddenly placed upon his shoulders. The blond girl nodded in agreement, while the night passed in silence around them.

* * *

A/N- Notes on this chapter: I'm basing a lot of this off of events in the manga titled Episode Zero, it's the closest thing we have to canon for the events before the series so I'm going to run with it.

For anyone who hasn't read it there is a segment about Trowa as he begins his descent to earth. The real Trowa has just been killed and his families forces are waiting outside L3 to begin the original operation meteor. Trowa destroys the forces to prevent them from dropping a colony onto earth in order to gain control. Into the computer log he states that 'acts of treason have occured. Mission is a failure." and then proceeds to earth and where we first see him in the series.

Any questions feel free to PM me, and **REVIEW! **For those 8 people who read the last chapter and didn't, THAT'S RUDE! You don't read that far and not like it at least a little, please tell me!


	8. Scenario for Bloodshed

_ A/N- Ok, I figured we should do a quick recap of what we know about Alexa so far since it starts to get important in this episode._

_ She trained with Heero at some point, though she originally descended to Earth with Duo. Though we don't know the details about her and Heero they seem to have a strong connection, especially considering how cold Heero is to all the other pilots at this point. When she first meets Trowa we learn that she is part of a plan coded as Meteorite, that appears to have something to do with gathering intelligence rather than fighting._

_ Now, on with the story! And please, please, please, **Review!!!**_

* * *

**Episode 7: Scenario for Bloodshed**

_Summary: Treize plans to have all the alliance leaders meet at New Edwards and trick the gundam pilots into thinking it is a meeting of Oz leaders. All five pilots head to attack the base. Heero destroys the shuttle with the peaceful leaders before Wufei shows up and tells the others they have been tricked. Other portions of the Oz organization begin rebelling worldwide._

* * *

On board a cargo/transport ship:

"Hi, so we meet again" Quatres' excited voice reverberated as he approached Trowa. "Funny we ended up with the same destination."

"I'm doing this alone." Trowa responded, disgruntled.

"So am I!" The childish enthusiasm in his voice made Alexa flinch when she overheard. "But what if we helped each other?"

"Don't think so." The girl pilot smothered a snort of laughter as Trowa quipped out the short phrase and immediately walked away.

"Two's always better than one!" Quatre tried again, almost shouting in his eagerness.

"You're not one to be daunted are you," Alexa spoke up, startling the other pilot.

"Who are you?" He asked, confused.

"My name's Alexa, I overheard you two talking," she spoke evenly, extending her hand to shake.

"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner," the boy responded, clasping her hand though his face was still uncertain.

"You better be more careful. Too many ears around to risk speaking openly about your mission," Alexas' tone wasn't quite scolding, but Quatre flinched anyway.

"I don't know what you're talking…" he began quickly, trying to mask his response.

"Yes you do," Alexa interrupted. "Now quit playing stupid. Trowa already told me who you are. We spotted your gundam being loaded." He blushed a bright red as Alexa grinned, pleased to catch the blond off guard with the knowledge that he was a pilot.

"You know Trowa?" Quatre asked, still flushed in the face. "So are you a pilot too?" he whispered as Alexa nodded in confirmation. "You're right, I should be more careful," he sighed, obviously embarrassed. "I wasn't thinking, I was so excited to see Trowa again…." Alexa suddenly felt a pang of pity, and began working to return the young man to his earlier bubbly personality.

"Come on, let's go see them launch!" She encouraged excitedly, gently tugging at his sleeve to follow. "This port's so poorly designed I hear they even have an old fashion tug boat to get us out of here!"

"Umm…Ok!" Quatre agreed, Alexas' infectious smile making him grin too as they raced up to the deck.

* * *

Below decks later:

"You were pretty short with him earlier, what's the deal?" Alexa questioned, appearing next to Trowa as he leaned on the walkway railing with his elbows.

"Huh? You mean with Quatre?" He replied, looking sideways at her. She nodded and Trowa shrugged as he responded, "He needs to toughen up a little, I told you how he acted when we first met. We're in a war, if he doesn't lose a little bit of that trust he's going to wind up getting himself killed." Trowa kept his face straight as he added frankly, "Or someone else."

"Well not all of us have the privilege of being practically born fighting in a mobile suit." Trowa grinned just a little as Alexa made fun of him.

"True," the pilot of Heavyarms answered, schooling his features into an emotionless mask again. "But he still needs to learn."

"He's a gentle person," Alexa pointed out, staring over the cargo hold. "It takes people like him to help end a war, just like it takes people like us to fight them."

"We will be docking shortly, all passengers please return to your vehicles to prepare for departure. Thank you." The attendants voice echoed through the cavernous space, bouncing easily off the metal walls.

"You ready for this?" Alexa asked as they straightened and headed towards the stairs.

"I was born ready," Trowa answered steadily, eyes laughing at his own joke.

"Cheap shot," she muttered, grinning back and stepping quickly down the wire meshed stairs.

* * *

New Edwards Base:

"Heero! Come in Heero, I know you're here!" Alexa yelled into the link comm., fighting to be heard over the whining base alarms and her own panting.

"I'm kind of in the middle of a fight!" Heero growled back, distracted face beeping up on the screen.

"Forget about those mass produced soldiers for a minute and listen close!" the girl pilot hissed impatiently. "They just emptied out the conference room, I missed them escorting out the big heads, and now I'm pinned down." A round of bullets echoed across the transmission, both pilots flinched, wondering whose side it had come from. Alexa continued, scanning the hanger her gundam was crouched in, "They've got some suits guarding here, Gate B12. It's the only one with solders running around. "

"They wouldn't be stupid enough to send them all out in one shuttle?" Heero questioned, his face wary.

"They're panicked," Alexa explained, glancing at her monitor readouts again. "They may have the outside guards prepped and ready but the people inside sure don't know what's going on. They're doing whatever they can, as fast as they can."

"Roger that," Heero replied, turning his gundam back to battle. "Get out as soon as you can, I'll keep an eye out for any OZ shuttles departing."

"Starfire out," Alexa signed off, focusing on slipping out of the base again. "I really gotta remember to check whether I'm needed inside or outside first," she grumbled to herself. "It's much easier getting in than back out."

"Next time you're making a phone call you may want to make sure you're better hidden." A mobile suit gun suddenly appeared in front of her and Alexa started in surprise.

"Who the…" she sputtered, staring up the powerful arm of, "A gundam…" Alexa whispered.

"That's right, you're pretty smart…for a woman," Wufei smirked verbally over the comm. link "And do you know how many people survive after they've encountered a gundam?"

"Hey, I'm a gundam pilot too!" Alexa countered, swiping away the dragon shaped gun with her shield and dodging out of the way. "We should be going after that OZ shuttle, not fighting each other!" she yelled as the other pilot retaliated, pulling out a beam weapon that she twisted away with the spiked chain on Starfires' arm.

"What OZ shuttle?" He asked, still pushing the weapon down to try and strike her. Alexa grunted from the effort of holding him back.

"The one with all the OZ officials that's about to escape!" she growled in frustration, twisting her gundams arm down and to one side, knocking his beam weapon away.

"OZ officials? You so sure about that?" Wufei spoke, maneuvering his mobile suit into a standing position, weapons pointed down, but at the ready by his side.

"What do you mean?" Alexa asked, also pulling her gundam up straight and dropping her arms in a temporary truce.

"It sounds like you fell for OZs' trick, typical female," Wufei said, Alexa could hear his anger over the line. "Those aren't OZ officials—they're alliance pacifists." Alexa swore loudly, whipping her black gundam towards the exit just as the roar of shuttle engines reached her ears.

"Heero, Heero!" She tried to raise him over the intercom and met only static. The girl pilot swore again, then spoke to Wufei, "We gotta go tell the others what's going on!"

"Others?" He asked, "The other gundams are here too?"

"Yes, now let's go!"

* * *

Outside:

"That's the one," Heero said to himself as the shuttle appeared and registered as an OZ craft on his screen. He launched Wing Gundam into the air and blasted after the plane. Time seemed to move in slow motion as the gundam switched from flight mode to fight mode and Heero pulled the beam weapon out. It blazed to life with green fire, and rose high to strike the shuttle. He sliced easily through the machine, the fuel causing it to explode in an airborne fireball.

"Mission accomplished," Heero reported satisfactorily over the intercom, aiming Wing Gundam back down to the battlefield.

"No Heero, you didn't!" Alexa choked out as Starfire and Shenlong materialized from behind a bullet torn hanger.

"Haven't you guys gotten tired of these meaningless battles yet?" Wufei cut her off over the close proximity link as he spoke to the other pilots.

"What do you mean?" Heero asked as he landed smoothly.

"Don't you guys realize? You've all been lured right into OZs' devious little trap." Wufei spat out, disgusted by their enemies tactics.

"We what?" Alexa identified Quatres' voice, as what Heero had just done began to sink in to her own mind.

"Check out the Alliances report." Wufei continued angrily, "You guys just wiped out the alliances pacifists!"

"Impossible" Heero whispered, in shock. Alexa keyed up the newscast on screen, her breathing growing ragged as General Septem spoke out against the colonies attack on the Alliance.

_I gave Heero the wrong info,_ she thought, quivering in shock.

"We must fight them to the bitter end!" The last words of Septems speech roared in her ears, and the young girl angrily flipped off the transmission.

"Fuhh…." She growled furiously through bared teeth.

"This was all completely planned out by OZ," Wufei spoke as he stood outside the cockpit of his gundam. "We became their puppets, controlled by Treize Kushrenada."

"No! How awful!" Quatre breathed out in shock.

"Dam him!" Duo uttered over the open link.

"But I'm going to fight you OZ!" Wufei said forcefully, balling his hands into fists. "Even if I've got to do it on my own!"

"Heero?" Alexa asked quietly, pulling up his face on her screen. "I'm sorry Heero."

"What have I…what have I done?" he gasped out quietly, his face contorted with the shock. Alexa felt her heart miss a beat at seeing him so emotional.

"I'm sorry Heero," she repeated desperately, but the pilot of zero one just kept staring into blank space.


	9. The Treize Asasination

**Episode 8: The Treize Assassination**

_Summary- Wufei and Trowa fly off to kill Treize, while Lady Une orders the New Edwards base to be destroyed. Wufei battles Lady Une in a mobile suit but then Treize challenges him to a swordfight. Treize wins but then lets Wufei go. Heero is not fighting so Duo and Quatre have to protect him until Sally Po calls Heero over the radio and tells him he's got to stop the detonation of the base. He succeeds and they all escape._

* * *

New Edwards Base-

Alexa sat quietly in the cockpit of her gundam, only half listening to Duo and Quatre argue about following the others after Treize. "Huh?" she started as motion on the view screen caught her eye. "Watch out!" she yelped to the others as several Leos began firing on them.

"So we didn't get em all" Duo, muttered.

"Either way let's get out of here." Quatres' voice rang over the communications link.

"Right" Duo and Alexa both agreed, dodging to more defensive positions.

"Hey kid, look out! You'll get shot!" Duo yelled suddenly, and Alexa turned around to see Heero merely standing in a yellow rain of bullets. "Don't just stand there!" Duo howled to him.

"Heero, get out of here!" Alexa commanded, pulling up the direct visual link. Heero merely looked up, his dark blue eyes devoid of the will to fight. "Argh," Alexa growled in frustration, racing back to him and raising her shield to block a stream of shots. "What a great time for a pity party Heero," the girl pilot muttered to herself, continuing to block the pilot from the majority of bullets and shooting down several Leos at the same time.

"So how long do you expect us to look after you?" Dou asked as he and Quatre joined her in defending the motionless gundam.

"Your friend's just gone through a little too much it seems…" Quatre added sympathetically. Alexa leaned a bit too far over to divert a shot with her shield, and Starfire stumbled to one side, thrown off balance.

"Crap!" She spat angrily as a barrage hit the Wing Gundam, making it collapse onto the ripped up asphalt. "Get over it already, we don't have time for this!" Alexa yelled over the link, both worried and angry at his behavior.

"Heero! I know you can hear me!" A vaguely familiar voice came over the bases' loudspeakers. "Listen to me Heero!

"Heero? So his name's Heero?" Duo murmured over the communications system.

"Detonation devices on the bases' large missiles were activated a few minutes ago. Oz is planning to blow the entire base apart in order to kill you gundam pilots," the female voice continued.

"They're going to blow up the whole base to get rid of us?" Alexa sputtered with surprise. Automatically she began to pull up data on the layout of the New Edwards base and began scanning for the missile location.

"I've confirmed that," Quatre spoke clearly over the link after she had already been examining the map for several seconds. "Apparently there are 47 large missiles situated at the New Edwards base and if they were to explode at once…it would instantly wipe out a radius of about 300 kilometers."

"I'm not sticking around, let's blow this place right now!" Duo piped up, already maneuvering Deathscythe off the battlefield.

"There's ten minutes before it blows up! We can't possibly get away safely now!" Quatre hollered back, slightly panicked.

"You would be able to cover that distance in time, but please grant me my one last wish!" the voice spoke once more, desperate and hopeful at the same time. "Deactivate the missiles, Heero." Wing gundam moved for the first time in several minutes, launching into the air.

Alexa cued up the comm. link to Heero once more, "The main missile base is located…"

"We don't have time for wrong information," he spit back at her. The blond froze, caught completely off guard. Duo hollered in the background, but the girl pilot didn't register the words.

"I…I…" she stammered, mouth open in surprise. Heero watched her with unblinking eyes as he cued up his own map of the base and pinpointed the missile location.

"Missile base location confirmed. Proceeding to enter the base," Heero reported, decisively switching off the video without a flicker of emotion on his face. Alexa swore loudly, slamming her fist onto the arm of the cockpit seat.

"Roger that Heero. I'm going to stake my life on you." Quatres' voice dragged her back to reality and Alexa watched as Heero sliced into missile bay, jamming it open with his gundams shield.

"Does he know how they've set up the detonation?" Quatre questioned over the open link.

"No," Alexa replied, forcing herself to focus on the fight at hand. "Use the Z-1-8-0 code frequency to radio him directly."

"Got it, thanks," the pilot of Sandrock replied, and Alexa listened as he relayed the info that had already been scrolling across her screen to Heero. "The detonation device has been activated on the largest missile: the model 304. It's set up so that model 304s explosion will trigger the explosion of all the other missiles. Hurry to the model 304 control room!" Heero didn't reply but Quatre seem unperturbed.

"Let's get a hold of some carriers and get out of here," Duos' voice crackled over the comm. link. "Where's the closest hanger Alexa?"

"50 degrees west of here," she responded from memory, and then mentally kicked herself, "_I should have double-checked that_." The girl pilot bit her lower lip as they pelted toward the carrier bay, thinking to herself. _"I've gotten in the habit of assuming I have the right information the first time. But today just proves that wrong!_" She growled a little, furious at herself. _"And now Heero doesn't trust me! Well why would he," _she admitted to herself, _"I convinced him to demolish a plane full of pacifists!" _Robotically she went through the motions of helping Duo and Quatre secure the shuttles, gunning down the slow moving Leo suits while Duo got the air craft running.

"All right we're in good shape, I've secured three carriers" He informed the other two pilots.

"The runway will be cleared in a minute," Quatre reported as he aimed his fire to the airstrip before them.

"Let's just hope we're not wasting our time," Duo muttered.

"Did you forget you were on an open link?" Alexa snapped angrily, throwing a piece of debris from the airstrip out of the way a little harder than necessary so it snapped in half from the impact.

"Could you get your hands on one more carrier and get it ready for departure?" Quatre interjected before Duo could respond.

"Another one?" The braided boy asked brushing aside Alexas' angry comment.

"Heero's going to need one too. His mobile suit is probably low on fuel," Quatre explained, shooting down the last MS outside.

"You are totally confident that he's gonna succeed aren't ya?" Duo asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Yes" Quatre and Alexa responded simultaneously.

"It's all up to you now, go for it Heero!" Duo said with a sigh as he leaned back in the pilots' chair.

"He's got a 10 percent chance of success. But that guy can do it for sure!" Quatre said confidently, heading over to another carrier Duo had secured.

"_That 10 percent chance is for a normal person, not Heero," _Alexa wanted say, but she kept her mouth shut as she loaded Starfire into the cavernous cargo hold.

"I'm taking off, catch you guys in the air," Duo spoke, firing up the engines of his plane to take off speed.

"I'm right behind you," Quatre radioed. They took off, Alexa watched through the thick glass surrounding the cockpit of the carrier. No enemy shots rained down as they taxied slowly and then faster down the runway, all the soldiers had cleared out when the detonation alarms went off. Suddenly the alarms dropped from their high-pitched whining and wound down in silence.

"Did he succeed?" Duo asked over the communications system, circling above the base.

"Yep," Alexa answered, starting up the engine to leave. "Mission accomplished."

"I've gotta say, you're quite the guy Heero. Way to go." Duo murmured in slight awe, and Alexa had the feeling he was indirectly apologizing to her for insulting Heero earlier. The two carriers split off and exited the air space above the base, while Alexa skillfully maneuvered the plane over to where Wing Gundam waited for its pilot to return.

"Heero, ready to go?" she asked cautiously, turning on the outside speakers as he appeared. The boy didn't respond for a moment, standing on the torn up surface, clenching his hand into a fist.

"What a miserable mission. I screwed up!" He suddenly yelled, and she flinched. "I totally screwed up!"


	10. Portrait of a Ruined Country

**PLEASE R&R or I will be forced quit publicly posting this story and send chapters to only those people who are willing to give me feedback for all the effort I put into it. **Personally I'm very disappointed with this section of in other portions I've found most people to be great about giving feedback and encouraging authors to keep writing. However despite a steady number of hits on each additional chapter, people adding me on alert lists, and favoriting my story I'm lucky to receive one lone review per chapter. And I am THANKFUL for those who have review, thank you very much and please continue to do so. All right, I am done ranting now, please enjoy this chapter...it may be the last you read if you're too lazy to review :P

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**Episode 9: Portrait of a Ruined Country**

_Summary: __Heero and Duo are in a new school but Relena has followed, searching for Heero. Zechs receives the now finished Tallgeese and flies it for the first time. He is almost killed because it has such a controlling system and power. His friend Otto flies the MS and frees the Sanc Kingdom but loses his life doing so.. Sadly Zechs wanders into the ruined palace, and revealing his true heritage as Millardo Peacecraft gives up his claim to the thrown, saying Relena will run the country as their father intended._

* * *

An unknown school-

"So this is where you went." Duo rambled as he approached Heero and Alexa. "You know that's pretty smart. Changing schools when you gotta move on. After all, it's natural for people our age to be in school," The braided boy settled himself on the railing beside Alexa and looked contentedly out over the bay.

"What's the idea?" Heero interrogated, glaring sideways at the other gundam pilot.

"Hmph, I'm just trying to act natural," Duo shrugged as he answered.

"You stand out," the other boy grunted, turning away.

"You wouldn't be so suspicious if you acted natural and instead of being so secretive. Why don't you just chill out a bit and have some fun as a student?" Duo asked, looking perplexed by Heeros' attitude. "Lexa here has it down," he added, playfully punching her lightly in the upper arm.

"Knock it off," she muttered, pushing him away.

"Fine, fine you're no fun anymore chica," Duo grumbled good-naturedly. "I told you it's not the end of a world to make a mistake," he grinned and waggled a finger at her, "it just shows that you're human!" The girl pilot didn't respond, but her brow crinkled in irritation as he spoke. "Hmmm," Duo though out loud, trying another approach, "That explains why your buddy here never screws up." He twisted his neck to leer at Heero, "He's not human!"

"Leave me alone," the quiet pilot ordered, closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of the bench he sat on.

"And stay out of your way, right?" Duo shot back, a knowing smirk on his face. "The three of us are going after the same thing here, you can't hide it from me. I can see it in your eyes as plain as day pal." Heero continued to ignore the other pilot until Duo asked, "What do you say the first one to destroy that ship wins?" Wordlessly they both studied the vessel in the harbor, eyes collecting the necessary information with an ease born from years of practice.

"You wanna play too Alexa?" Duo challenged, grinning mischievously at her. Cautiously the girl pilot looked sideways at Heero who pointedly turned away.

"Sure," she answered Duo without emotion. He raised his eyebrows questioningly but Alexa refused to say anything else and began to walk away.

"Let's do it then," he said to her retreating back, face split by an eager smile. A car pulled up in the lot behind him, and part curiosity part instinct made the braided boy turn to look as the door slammed shut. "Hey that's.." he almost whispered.

"Relena…" Heero supplied, watching intently as the vice foreign ministers daughter walked up to them with sure strides. Alexa heard the boys speaking, but decided the girl who kept chasing after Heero wasn't worth acknowledging and kept walking.

"Heero!" Relena smiled so big that her eyes closed, "I wanted to see you!"

"Well, she's not your average chick," Duo commented admiringly, "Wanting to see the guy who's trying to kill her." Heero kept his mouth shut, turning back to look at the ship in the harbor and ignoring the rest of the world.

* * *

Maganac base:

"So how was it?" Rashid asked his young charge, sitting down in the chair opposite.

"There were six suits in all. I'm pretty sure they're all called gundams." Quatre answered, sipping cautiously from the delicate cup.

"They're all gundams?" the older man repeated in surprise.

"They're violent and dangerous but they're all really nice guys," Quatre spoke softly, smiling at the memory.

"How can you be so sure of that Master?" Rashid asked gently, trying not to sound too distrustful.

"I can tell," the blond pilot spoke assuredly. "The soul of outer space tells me."

"The soul of outer space?" Rashids face grew skeptical but Quatre wasn't looking and didn't notice the expression.

"The soul of outer space," he repeated, breathing in the sweet scented steam rising from the cup between his hands. Finally the pilot looked up at his mentor, just catching the quickly hidden expression of doubt. "I did talk to one of them too Rashid, I'm not going entirely on instinct here," he added in an attempt to sooth the older man.

"One of them besides Trowa?" Rashid asked, scratching at his beard.

"Yeah," Quatre nodded, continuing after he took a sip of tea, "Her name's Alexa. She gave me some good advice actually before the battle."

"Her?" Rashid was startled. "One of the pilots is a girl?"

"Sure, she's a really good pilot too from what I saw," the boy answered quickly, wondering why his mentor suddenly looked so worried.

"Master Quatre…" Rashid began, then seemed unsure how to continue. Finally the bearded man cleared his throat and continued, "Perhaps it's better if you don't interact with the other pilots outside of battle."

"Huh? Why not Rashid?" The leader of the Maganac shifted uncomfortably as Quatre stared up at him with innocent blue eyes.

"Well…I think that…perhaps you…" he began, struggling to explain. Quatre watched him struggle for several seconds, then understanding suddenly dawned on his face and the blond boy burst out in high pitched laughter. "Master?" Rashid questioned.

"Rashid!" Quatre managed to choke out, "We're fighting in a war! I'm not going to fall for some girl!" The teenager continued laughing, finally taking several deep breaths to soothe himself. "You don't honestly think…"

"I just wanted to point it out master," Rashid spoke firmly, attempting to redeem himself from his earlier stuttering. Quatre snorted in laughter again, but more quietly this time.

"Don't worry about me Rashid," he smiled kindly up at his mentor.

_But I do worry,_ the older man thought, though he nodded to Quatre and sat back in his chair.

* * *

On board the OZ ship in the harbor-

Duo grinned happily as Deathscythe easily sliced through the Leos that were supposed to be guarding the ship. A sharp beep echoed in the cockpit, warning him of an approaching MS. "What took you Heero?" the boy taunted, "Don't worry, I left you some action." With renewed intensity Duo continued slicing through the ships defenses, while Heero took the more direct approach and aimed Wing Gundam right at the main command tower.

"Too late!" Alexas' voice rolled over the link just as the tower exploded a second before Heero rammed into it with his gundam. "I don't know why you boys thought it necessary to wait until nightfall to get rid of this thing." The girl pilot grinned innocently at Duo from the his screen.

"How long have you been here?" He asked in disbelief.

"I set up the explosive this afternoon, then came out here when you tried to sneak off so I could make sure they went off properly." The girl pilot responded nonchalantly.

"All right, all right, you win," Duo relented rolling his eyes good naturedly.

"Mission accomplished, let's split." Alexa said. Duo nodded in agreement and fired up Deathscythes rockets. Alexa hesitated for a second, looking over her shoulder where Heero sat silently in Wing Gundam. Instantly he maneuvered the gundam into the air, and the girl pilot sighed. "I suppose I can't expect him to forgive me by beating him in a fight." Unbidden memories played forcefully through her mind as she watched him fly away.

_Wing Gundam arced high in the air, transforming to fight mode as soon as it reached the same height as the plane. He pulled the beam sword out and it blazed to full length instantly. They all watched from the ground as the weapon effortlessly swept through the OZ plane and it exploded in a yellow and orange fireball. "Mission accomplished," Heeros voice came clearly over the radio frequency._

Alexa closed her eyes in shame thinking, _It's my fault he killed all those pacificist…I gotta think of a way to make it up to him!_

"What's the matter 'Lexa, did you forget how to fly?" Duo called back to her.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She responded quickly. "It's not like I've been waiting all day for you guys to attack, slow pokes!"

"Hey, don't push it!" Duo replied, and the girl pilot gave a small smile as she launch Starfire into the air.

_Why is it so much easier to get back to normal when I'm around Duo?_ Alexa continued thinking as she skimmed over the water. _He just shrugged it off and said mistakes happen when he learned what I did, but Heero…I feel like there's no way to redeem myself with him._ Irratated the girl shook her head, blond ponytail slapping gently on her ears. _I'll have to figure it out some other time when I'm not high on adrenaline from battle._

* * *

In the newly freed Sanc Kingdom-

Zechs strode down the halls of the ruined palace, but his eyes didn't see the ramshackle walls or burned decorations—he was concentrating instead on the human life that had just been lost to win back his kingdom. But as the lightning count passed a large door torn off the hinges, he seemed to come back to reality and entered the room. Silently he stood before the only untouched object in the room, an immense painting of a determined looking man. As he pulled off his mask Zechs spoke quietly to the picture,

"It took me 13 years to return to these grounds. Father forgive your son. There's been much bloodshed along the way and I've only been able to live a lifestyle that counters your teachings based on the principles of total pacifism," the young man looked down in shame at his gloved fingers, "My hands they are too stained with blood. I'm completely unfit to lead the Peacecraft monarchy."

He let out a soft sigh as he picked up a slightly battered metal frame from the table before him and looked over the pictures within. The central one was a young, smiling boy holding a sleeping baby girl, and the leftmost photo showed the same baby girl a bit older and smiling widely for the camera. However his eyes rested longest on the third photo, half falling out of its frame with only a portion of the shattered glass left to hold it in. Gently Zechs freed it from the ruined frame and held it by the corner. The same young boy from the central picture was in this one as well, but this time his smile was more natural and he seemed to be laughing along with the girl toddler clinging piggy backed to him. The pilot blinked several times to clear his vision.

"I have failed you in more then just being unable to live by your teaching father. I couldn't protect her, I failed at the most essential duty you placed upon me. Another reason I am not fit to bear the Peacecraft name," Millardo sighed and tore his gaze away from the loose photo, looking at the leftmost picture again. "But I'm sure she would be able to lead the country in the manner you'd intended. I will fight to make that happen." He spoke the last words strongly, adding sincerely once more, "I have failed you, please forgive me." With a bow of his head the former prince set down the frame and walked from the room of his ruined home, pocketing the third picture as he disappeared through the fire scorched doorway.


	11. Heero, Distracted by Defeat

_A/N- Thanks to a few very nice people I now have three reviews on the last chapter and decided that was enough to update on. So please review so I can keep going with this story. I mean, honestly how can you favorite a story and not leave a single review?_

* * *

**Episode 10: Heero, Distracted by defeat**

_Summary: All the gundams have a mission to stop the shipment of new Taurus mobile suits. Duo and Quatre attack the land route but it's the fake one while Trowa and Heero attack the air route. Zechs is waiting to fight Heero. Heeros' instructor Doctor J surrenders when Oz threatens to shoot the colonies and Heero self-destructs._

* * *

A Boarding School-

"Dr. J," Heero whispered as the computer monitor before him was suddenly taken out of his control.

"There is a problem with the Taurus," his informant began without introduction, "it has the ability to learn from accumulated battle data. I'd like to trust OZs' system, but there's still the chance that the machine will ignore the pilots commands and move on its own. If the command to kill overrides the pilot the consequences could be significant." The old scientist sounded disgusted by what he was telling young pilot and earnestly he commanded Heero, "Destroy it! Otherwise it will be a menace to mankind."

"Mission accepted." Heero acknowledged, the sound of a door opening jerking his head around, "Who's there?" Duo held the door open a crack to illuminate the dark room as he looked at his fellow pilot

"I've come to say goodbye, I've got a bad feeling about this one," The braided boy shifted uncomfortably as he spoke. "Oz's transport plan is good, from what I can gather they're going to be taking two routes by air and by land." With a rough sigh he leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. The teenager hesitated for a moment then asked anxiously, "Heero, could you take the air route? I"ll fight them on the ground. We'll lose unless we have our own plan this time." Heero didn't answer, his dark blue eyes locked on Duo's silhouette in the doorway.

Silently Heero finally turned away from the braided boy, the desk chair spinning on its axis as he faced the shadowed bed. Alexa was perched there, the pieces of a completely dismantled firearm laid out neatly in front of her. Sensing his eyes on her, the girl pilot turned slightly to meet his gaze; dark blue and light blue eyes meeting with perfect understanding. She blinked once and gave an almost imperceptible nod before turning back to the multitude of pieces on the blanket in front of her. Just as mutely Heero turned back to the desk and began pulling up files on the laptop.

"I hate when you two do that!" Duo cried out, looking utterly confused and annoyed about it. In frustration he flung his hands out, asking loudly, "What the heck did you say slash not say to each other?" Alexa smirked a little as she reached for a piece of the gun.

"I'm going to go with you on the land route, that's all."

"So you think I need a babysitter huh?" Duo spat, glaring at Heero.

"Does the reason really matter?" Alexa questioned him calmly. Duo snorted. "How about if we say I'd rather fight with you?" she tried, looking up with raised eyebrows and a slight grin.

"Liar," Duo rumbled, but the majority of the anger had left his voice.

"Fine," the girl pilot replied simply, "Now get out, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow." She motioned him out with the gun tip before sliding off the bed to join Heero at the computer. Muttering to himself Duo turned on his heel and closed the door behind him. Several steps down the hall he froze and looked quickly over his shoulder,

"She didn't just…" he muttered as a recent memory flashed in his mind. Alexa motioning him out, the bed in front of her empty and the gun in her hand completely put back together. "Man she's fast," he whistled appreciatively, mentally calculating how many seconds it had taken for her to reassemble the firearm. "Gotta remember not to make her made," he muttered, looking a little nervously at the closed door. The laid back pilot shrugged his shoulders, "Ehh, whatever," and continued down the hall.

* * *

OZ base-

Dressed in full uniform Lieutenant Noin stood in the back of the OZ crowd, tapping her foot impatiently as Lady Une continued her speech on the gundam pilots. "That concludes my briefing," the colonel finally finished, startling Noin back with the abrupt ending to the repot.

"What about the information on the 6th gundam that has been reported?" she broke in before Lady Une could dismiss the troops. From behind her glasses Une glared furiously from the insubordination.

"Only rumors exist about there being a 6th gundam," She spoke firmly and slowly, as though Noin was stupid. "We all know how powerful the gundams are, it's no surprise that unprepared soldiers would panic fighting against that kind of strength and make the mistake of thinking there was another mobile suit present."

"Weren't there pictures secured from the attack at New Edwards?" Noin piped up again, challenging Une while pretending concern. The lady's eyes glinted and her face hardened in anger as she replied in a slightly irate tone,

"Photos were secured of four of the gundams and we had reports of one or possibly two infiltrating the hangers…"

"Wouldn't it be best to be prepared for six then…" Noin began to interrupt, taking a step toward the podium in her urgency. Une merely raised her voice though to talk over the other woman and continued,

"However, nothing could be confirmed again and those of high rank have laid the blame on the active imaginations of soldiers." With finality Lady Une cleared her throat, looking down her nose at Noin as she asked, "Any further questions?" With a small growl of anger Noin held her tongue and Lady Une smirked in pleasure. "Commence operation!"

* * *

Land battle site-

"You wish!" Duo shouted out as he blasted in and used his gundam to muscle the speeding from the tracks just before it smashed in the Gundam Sandrock. "Hey ya ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Glad you came," Quatre responded, sounding a little out of breath from the fright.

"Nice save Duo," Alexa responded as Starfire swooped down and shifted from flight to fight mode.

"Sure, but this route is the decoy" The boy responded, turning to face the wrecked line of train cars.

"What?" exclaimed Quatre in breathy disbelief. In eerie silence the compartment doors slid open, and hundreds of lights blinked on in the night as mobile suits emerged from within.

"Looks like we still get a decent fight though," Alexa called out happily to the boys, fiddling with her gundams' controls in anticipation of battle.

"Calling all gundam pilots. We are now positioned to stage an all out attack on the colonies." Colonel Unes' voice crackled a little as it rolled over the tapped communications line. "We have seized all missile satellites from the former alliance. It's reasonable to say that we control the destiny of all colonies. This isn't a bluff, I demand all pilots to surrender at once and hand over your gundams."

"Damn!" Alexa swore under her breath, pulling back from her fighting stance and lowering the beam weapon her gundam held.

"They've targeted the colonies!" Quatre exclaimed fearfully, his face pale on the monitor screen as he listened to Lady Une speak.

"And hand over our gundams?" Duo repeated, as though he couldn't believe this was really happening. Alexa felt her face grew hot in anger as a knowing silence filled the communications link. Colonel Une thought she had won.

"Patch me through!" The commanding voice of an old man suddenly echoed in Alexas' cockpit. "Hurry up! I want to make sure I've got a good connection!" Without even thinking the girl pilot switched from the fight controls to the computer keyboard and began furiously typing in commands. Over all the broadcast stations a picture of an old man with bug-eyed glasses and a mechanical hand suddenly appeared, the video occasionally shifting with a hiss of static from the weak connection.

"Attention Oz. I never would have imagined that you people could be so incredibly foolish!" the old man spoke, addressing the worldwide broadcast just staged by OZ. "The space colonies had no intention of fighting OZ. This is my personal battle that I'm staging against you."

"Who's this guy?" Alexa heard Duo ask over the line quickly answered by Quatre.

"The person who's been sending orders to someone amongst us six," the gentle pilot supplied, she could see him staring intently at the image of Doctor J from her own screens.

_And I know who…_ Alexa thought, but quickly shrugged the thought away. They would know soon enough who the old man had trained. Pausing a bit to think this time her fingers keyed in several more commands and the broadcasted picture steadied. "There. He can build the ultimate mobile suit, but he can't reprogram a satellite." she muttered with slight arrogance as J continued to address OZ.

"In your eyes, inhumane moves such as attacking the colonies are Just if that's what it takes for you to come out victorious right? I have no choice but to surrender."

"Very well, you're surrender is accepted, abandon your gundams immediately." Une replied primly, continuing to broadcast openly so all could hear the acceptance of defeat. Heavyhearted Alexa unbuckled the safety straps and palmed open the cockpit door. "He's trained us too well…" she whispered to herself, catching with the corner of her eye a shot of Heero doing the same on one of her view screens. "We follow his commands without them even being directed to us."

"I surrender, but I will not hand over the gundams." Doctor J responded quickly to Colonel Une, a nearly invisible smirk growing on his face. "I repeat, **I **surrender but I will not hand over the gundams."

"Mission accepted," Heeros' voice rang clear and emotionless over the inter-gundam communications link. With a decisive click he hit the handheld detonator with his thumb, the view screen erupting in a flare of light as Wing Gundam exploded and Heero disappeared.

"Mission accepted," Alexa repeated with a gulp as she saw Heero act. The young pilot hesitated a mere second before closing her eyes tightly shut as she thumbed the detonation control.

"No!" Quatre and Duo yelled simultaneously, launching their gundams forward to stop her. The sounds from the explosions seemed far away to Alexas' ears as she stood on the edge of the open cockpit, trying to wait calmly for death.

_It's an order, for the good of all I must follow it._ Her quick mind just had time to drag up the phrase from a childhood spent training to be a perfect solider. Then Sandrocks' outstretched hand knocked her small body away from the detonating gundam, the cold gundanium alloy burning like fire on her skin. At the same moment the scythe-like weapon clutched in Deathscythes' hand knocked Starfire backwards and away from her. Alexas' eyes were open wide again as she plummeted earthward, followed by a hail of debris. The blond pilot hit the ground with an involuntary grunt as her body contorted from the impact.

"Uhhh…" she groaned feebly. _Gotta stay small to avoid getting hit from the debris,_ Alexa thought foggily, struggling to make her body obey before she realized that the expected rain of gundam fragments weren't falling all around her.

"Are you ok?" Quatre asked, his voice frantic with worry. The gentle pilot had basically thrown his gundam to the ground and curled it around to shield her from the explosion. Weakly Alexa tried to sit herself up a little to prove that she was still alive.

"Can you hear me? We must leave here at once!" Trowas' voice echoed out from the external speakers Quatre had left on.

"Trowa, is that you Trowa?" The blond boy shouted back, still reeling from the self-detonations by his fellow gundam pilots.

"Without resolutions we cannot fight. He's accepted all orders," Trowa spoke calmly and Alexa suddenly felt her head begin to spin as she remembered Heero had detonated too.

"Because they bluffed with the colonies! Damm!" Duo growled, she could see his gundam standing motionless as Quatre forced Sandrock upright. While the gundam was still down on one knee the young boy opened the cockpit and slid down to the ground next to Alexa.

"We can't fight any longer," he murmured, kneeling down to help her up.

"No," she whispered weakly, "we can't."

"You got her?" Duo asked, striding over in Deathscythe. Quatre nodded as he stood, supporting Alexa with his shoulder. "All right," the other boy responded with urgency, "We better figure out quick how to get this gundam out of here."

"But I…" Alexa tried to say, swiveling her head to look at where Starfire had fallen and immediately regretting the motion. Wincing she sagged heavily against Quatre, she had no clue exactly what parts of her body she had damaged in the last minute but the adrenaline flowing through her system from battle could only compensate so much. The quick glance she caught of her gundam though showed that it was still quite intact. _Shit! I can't do anything right!_ She swore mentally, _The blast must have gotten thrown off when Duo knocked it over._

"Just leave it!" Quatre shouted up to Duo, starting to steer her towards Sandrock. "We need to get US out of here."

"Need a lift?" Deathscythe knelt down and with Quatres' help Alexa pulled herself weakly up onto the offered palm. She felt woozy and fought back the urge to throw up as Duo brought her up level with his cockpit. "Come on," he said gently opening the door and easing her beaten frame inside. "Let's leave if those bastards aren't going to play fair," he added with a characteristic Duo style comment. Alexa managed to give a small nod in agreement as he eased her down to a little one side of his seat and behind the majority of the controls.

"Ok, let's go," He radioed to Quatre. The blond girl felt her vision blacking over a little, and she struggled to stay upright. "Hey," Duo spoke earnestly to her, "No puking all over the nice interior!" Alexa just had time for a weak smile to appear on her lips—then she blacked out completely.


	12. The Whereabouts of Happines

_A/N- Ok, since I got so many complaints about ending the story where it was on the last chapter (and since I know have time with no school) I'm going to give this a shot again. I do, however, require reviews. Three reviews for an update doesn't seem to demanding, though of course I would love more! Enjoy._

* * *

**Episode 11: The whereabouts of happiness**

_Summary: While Zechs collects the scattered pieces of the Wing gundam Duo and Quatre escape to a safe base of the maquanac core. Relena sets herself on a mission to kill Lady Une at a formal ball but fails to shoot her. Meanwhile Quatre, Duo and the Magaunac are discovered and must make a run for it. Noin takes Relena under her protection to defend her from Lady Une._

* * *

Near the edge of the desert-

"There's really no way out with all this security…" Duo muttered as Deathscythe crouched beneath the canopy of trees with OZ mobile suits sweeping the skies above.

"So you guys saved me just so some low level OZ solider can shoot me instead?" Alexa grumbled weakly, blue eyes fluttering open.

"You betcha!" the braided boy grinned back at her, trying to hide the worry in his gaze. Alexa gave him a pained smile, one arm cradling her injured ribs while the other clutched the back of the pilot seat to keep her from pitching forward. The girl pilot had been slipping in and out of consciousness while they hid from the OZ soldiers searching for them, and Duo couldn't help but feel that he needed to hurry and get her help.

_The fastest would be if I could find a MS shuttle carrier but they'd spot us and shoot that down before you could say hot cross buns…_he thought to himself, studying the red and green data maps on his screen. "Besides to swipe a carrier I'd have to cross the entire desert to get to the closest airport…" Duo muttered, seeing Alexa's eyes glass over and close again in her pale face. _We really need to get out of here,_ he thought, feeling a little bit desperate. Abruptly he saw someone moving in his peripheral vision. That someone was blond, wearing goggles on his head and flashing a signal light to catch his attention. "Hmm? That guy…"

Several minutes later Duo carefully directed Deathscythes arm to a stone ledge while the other gundam pilot stood, balanced on the mobile suits' palm. "A fairly large sandstorm is on its way, we'll be crossing the desert then." Duo picked up the words with his external speaker as Quatre jumped to the ground and asked, "Wanna come with us?"

"Yeah I do, I could use some sympathy now," Duo murmured back apathetically.

"I need time to think too" Quatre responded, sounding beaten.

* * *

At the self-destruct site of 01-

"Noin, would you mind if I took this gundam with me to the Lake Victoria base?" Zech's question took the dark haired Lieutenant by surprise.

"Huh? Are you planning to fix it?" she asked him, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Yes," the lightning count replied simply, striding over to the scattered remains of the destroyed Wing gundam.

"Why bother?" Noin questioned, still unsure what he was thinking.

"Perhaps I'm just preoccupied with that pilot," admitted Zechs as he bent down and randomly picked up a fragment of gundanium.

"But the gundam pilot died didn't he?" Noin couldn't keep the skepticism out of her voice as she continued to stand, watching the blond solider before her.

"I just have a feeling that he's alive. It's pretty well impossible after that explosion," Zechs replied in a tone that grew increasingly hopeful, "but I also hope that he is alive. As a fellow mobile suit pilot he was someone that I was destined to do battle with."

"Hmm…." Noin pursed her lips as she watched him standing there, loose strands of hair getting caught by the breeze and drifting just above his shoulders. "So…what about those other pilots then? Do you feel the same about them?"

"Huh?" Zechs seemed surprised that she hadn't let the subject drop. "I see them as worthy enemies, is that what you're getting at?"

"I guess," Noin murmured, distractedly looking off to the horizon. For several moments she just stood there, face chiseled by a look of extreme concentration. Finally, with a sigh the female pilot added, "There's another suit…one that's more intact than this one."

"What?" Zechs started in surprise, swinging his head around so that his helmet caught the sunlight and let off a short, blinding ray.

"It's one of the gundams that attacked the land based route," Noin explained, still not meeting his eyes. "The black one that Une said didn't exist," she added more quietly but with a heavy bit of sarcasm.

"Another one," Zechs murmured to himself, eyes staring off into the distance without really focusing on anything.

"It hasn't been reported to the officials yet," Noin continued, now staring at the dusty toes of her uniform boots. The lighting count shifted his gaze to her, eyes curious. "If we act immediately they don't need to find out either, most of the security was centered on the actual transport route," she added more quietly.

"Noin," Zechs said firmly, drawing her gaze to him. "Thank you." The lieutenant blushed, muttering about not really having done anything before he interrupted her softly. "I still think that old saying of 'Know your enemy better than you know yourself' applies quite well here." The blond let a moment of silence reign, the light breeze still catching his loose hair and fluttering it behind his strong shoulders. "Thank you," he repeated, "for knowing me so well."

* * *

Edge of the desert-

"Crap, I can't see a thing in this sandstorm. What could be in a place like this?" Duo complained, his tone a mix of grumpiness and exhaustion. Alexa was passed out again, slumped against the padded seat while he braced her a little with his shoulder to keep her from tumbling forward. An image beeped to life on his screen, the other pilots' face a little fuzzy with all the interference from flying sand.

"There's a base belonging to the Middle East nations not associated with the earth sphere alliance or OZ. Why don't we take refuge there?" He asked, his speech occasionally marked by momentary hisses of static.

"A base?" Duo questioned, looking around in confusion as the troop of soldiers spread out and gave the all-clear signal. Suddenly, right in front of him the ground shifted as a platform lifted up, the sand pouring off it in great cascades. "An underground base!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Let's go!" the other pilot commanded. The soliders followed, one of them explaining to Duo that it was their home base; the homeland of the Maquanac core.

"Huh, sounds like this guy has some powerful friends…" Duo muttered to himself, taking in the massive space that they piloted their gundams into. A uniformed solider directed him into an empty bay with his suit, and as soon as Duo maneuvered Deathscythe into a crouched position he hopped out. The other pilot had just exited his gundam too and the braided boy yelled over to him, "Hey, you got any medics around here? Alexa's hurt pretty bad."

"Rashid?" the other boy questioned, turning to one of the men who had just exited another mobile suit. He nodded and gestured at some of the other distinctly arab dressed men.

"Get her out of that suit and up to the infirmary," he hollered in a tone that suggested he was used to giving orders, and from the quick response of the other soliders Duo felt that they had trained together for some time.

"Here," the boy solider said as they approached, "I'll get her out." The cockpit was small but he maneuvered the unconscious teenager out without too much trouble, and many helping hands were waiting outside. "She hasn't woken up since the storm picked up," Duo informed them, two of the men delicately cradling the battered body to keep from causing more injury.

"We've got some good medical staff here," the other gundam pilot said confidently as they carted the wounded solider away. "She'll be just fine," he added, though his voice was tinged with apprehension.

"If anyone can pull through this it would be Alexa," Duo replied, watching as the two soldiers carrying his friend finally disappear from view.

"Yeah, she's pretty tough isn't she?" the blond boy asked, cerulean eyes shifting over to look at Duo. Then suddenly he brought a hand up to his mouth and exclaimed, "I'm sorry! I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner."

"Winner?" Duo pulled back with a look of slight shock, looking the blond boy over from head to toe. "You mean you're the heir to the Winner family, one of the few influential and financial powers of the Arabic nations." Duo felt a slight rush of satisfaction that he pulled off fitting so much information into one sentence, and also to see the other boy blush--obviously he hadn't expected to be so well known. _I may be from L2_ the braided pilot thought to himself, _But that doesn't mean I don't know what goes on in the rest of the universe._ Aloud he kept his tone less vain, though still looking around the impressive underground hanger, "No wonder everyone looks up to you around this place."

"Our family is all pacifists," Quatre admitted, "I disinherited myself to come out here."

"Yeah? It takes all types I guess," Duo said, mentally knocking himself down a peg as he remembered that the blond was a gundam pilot just like him, not just some rich pretty boy. "I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell," he said companionably. Then, unable to keep his cheeky nature in check added, "I might run and hide but I never tell a lie! That's me in a nutshell."

* * *

Maquanac home town

Alexa propped herself up on her elbows as Quatre lodged a thin stick between the shutter and window frame to let in a breeze. The blond pilot looked more like a mummy than a mobile suit pilot. Several wraps of a light tan bandage keeping her head wound under control, while a small splint adorned one forearm and firmer bandages wrapped around her chest as support for the hairline fractured ribs.

"Now we're alone, we can talk in here," Quatre said, turning back to the other two.

"You sure you're up to this 'Lex?" Duo questioned, his legs swinging on either side of the wooden chair that he had turned around backwards. The girl pilot just rolled her eyes at him.

"Do you see all these pills they gave me?" she groaned, pointing at the heavily laden side table.

"I just thought maybe they gave you some 'happy' pills," Duo grinned mischievously, "We could quiz you on something other than battles….that would be fun…" Alexa weakly chucked the pillow at him, making both boys laugh as Duo batted the soft weapon to the floor.

"Ok," he said, taking a deep breath and becoming serious. "There's six right?" he asked, directing the question to Quatre.

"That's right, just the six of us that met at New Edwards," the blond boy replied.

"I came here from the colonies," Duo spoke steadily, halting Alexa's response with a small wave of his hand. With a small frown the girl pilot swallowed her words, resting her bandaged head on the pale wall.

"I did as well. The six of us are just the same, don't you think?" Quatre questioned, walking over and sitting on the edge of bed to still include her in the conversation. "Our mobile suits, our missions…not to mention our objective to destroy OZ."

"OZ destroyed peace in the colonies, this mission is revenge!" Duo spat out venomously. "I've been fighting under those orders."

"Same with me!" Quatre exclaimed, looking up in surprise. "That's when I was given the mobile suit I use."

"Same here!" the braided pilot lifted his eyebrows as he began to recite, "Don't worry about the colonies…."

Quatre joined in and together the boys said in unison, "Destroy them first, that's your responsibility!"

"Just the same…" Duo murmured in amazement.

"Yeah, word for word," Quatre agreed, still looking slightly shocked.

"Alexa had the same orders too," Duo added, jerking his head in her direction.

"I can still talk you know!" she piped up indignantly, using shaky arms to push herself up into more of a sitting position; trying and failing to hide the wince of pain this induced.

"Hey! Just relax!" Quatre spoke out. "You don't want to open those wounds again."

"Fine, but no more talking for me D-man," she scolded, shooting Duo a cool glare as she settled back down. Actually looking apologetic he nodded, then turned back to Quatre.

"I always fought believing I'd be better off dead rather than living under OZ's rule."

"Me to, but to kill yourself…" Quatre answered. Then he flinched and darted a quick glance at Alexa, "I didn't mean…"

"Oh, just pretend I'm not here since you two seem to be having such troubles with it!" she interrupted in exasperation, rolling over and facing the wall in a pout.

"Heero ended up doing it…he took his life," Duo said quietly, his eyes sad as he looked over at his companions.

"The colonies have no intention of fighting. The colonies can't be sacrificed," Quatre spoke firmly, then added empathetically as Alexa turned back to the conversation, "Your friend was the perfect role model."

"I never would have imagined that Heero had such a stubborn streak in him," muttered Duo.

"That wasn't about being stubborn," pointed out Alexa. "It was the best move he could make. We can't just surrender; we couldn't fight—except this one way. By self-destructing we sent a message to OZ that we are not afraid to do what we need to in order to achieve peace….but at the same time we can't sacrifice the colonies to do it."

"It was clear the colonies would be targeted once the gundams got going," Quatre mentioned, staring at his hands with a look of helplessness.

"That's why Heero self-destructed without a second thought," Alexa spoke softly but her voice carried easily in the silence of the small room. "He expected to do it from the beginning." Both Duo and Quatre looked at her in shock, but before they could ask any questions a commotion outside drew them to the window.

"Those look like OZ troops!" Duo hissed, his lips pulled back in a snarl.

"Come on!" Quatre ordered, pulling open the locked door and disappearing into the hallway; Duo on his heels.

"Hey!" Alexa shouted as she suddenly realized they had left her. "Guys! What about me!" she called out, wincing from her injuries with only the slight creaking of the door hinges to answer her.

* * *

Maquanac base, during the battle with OZ

"Go with us to the north gate where Abdul's waiting" Rashid prompted Duo as they waited for Quatre to load his gundam into the carrier.

"Thank you," the braided boy said softly. "Sorry I can't do anything in return," he added, grimacing as he looked down at his shoes. "I'm so ashamed I could die!" he spat out in disgust. Out of nowhere though, two of the village girls appeared and thrust a couple of bouquets at him, "Huh? For me?" Duo stuttered in surprise.

"The gundams are our heroes, never forget that," Rashid told him. "I know we'll fight together again someday. For the future." The braided boy nodded understandingly to the taller man, then turned as Sandrocks' cockpit opened.

"Hey Quatre!" he shouted, waving and happy go lucky once more.

"Yeah?"

"I got some flowers here for ya!" Duo replied, waving one of the paper wrapped bouquets so the other boy could see.

"I promise," Quatre murmured to himself, "one day my gundam will definitely fight again!"

"Here you go," Duo said as he scrambled up on top of the gundam and handed the other pilot one of the flower sets.

"Thanks," he responded distractedly, merely taking a moment to catch his breath as the conveyor belt slowly rolled the giant gundam up into the hold of the plane.

"Alexa inside already?" Duo asked, breaking the short silence.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she said she'd make sure Deathscythe got loaded while I got Sandrock." Quatre brought himself back to the present as the lift screeched to a halt and the mobile suit cradle settled into its grooves and locks.

"You guys ready?" Rashid hollered, receiving thumbs up from Duo.

"Go on and take the controls," he told the blond boy, "I'll make sure everything back here gets settled." With a nod Quatre obeyed, hurrying to the nose of the craft and settling himself into the pilots chair before maneuvering towards the exit.

"Hey Quat," Duos' voice crackled over the internal sound system. "Is she up there with you?"

"Who…" he began to ask, then realized who Duo was talking about. "She's not back there?" A beep announced the video communications link and Rashid's face came up on the screen.

"Master Quatre are you there?"

"Yes!" He responded quickly, a note of panic in his tone. "Rashid our friend isn't…"

"Abdul is letting her out another of the gates," he interrupted before Quatre could say more, "apparently she very _strongly_ insisted on going out on her own."

"But she's injured!" the gundam pilot burst out. "She shouldn't even be out of bed much less…."

"Master," Rashid interrupted once more. "Alexa is also a gundam pilot. I'm sure she has a good reason."

* * *

Just outside the base

Alexa waved back at Abdul as he closed the small, emergency exit behind the jeep she was steering. The explosions of battle were loud but still distant enough that she wasn't worried. The jeep the Maquanac core had given her was designed for army use in the sandy terrain, and handled well.

_With those guys creating a diversion I'll bet there's minimal security left at the transport lines._ She thought, daring a glance in the review mirror and seeing only the distant, fiery explosions of battle. _Those two can run away but I've got some unfinished business from this battle. I have to make sure Starfire's destroyed properly, and maybe even wreak some havoc with their leftover troops._

The jeep hit a random rock and the sharp jolt made her wince and instinctively clutch at her injured ribs. _One step at a time,_ she reminded herself, teeth clenched stubbornly. _Complete the mission and then worry about injuries…and then maybe I can actually think about what happened…and what I'm going to do next._

The teenager drove silently for several minutes, trusting the stars and her own instinct to guide her in the direction of the battlefield. The diversion battle between the Maquanac and OZ faded behind her, and the leftover wind from the earlier sandstorm as slowly erasing the jeep tire tracks. The blond relaxed a little as she got further and further away, even taking one hand off the steering wheel and letting it rest on the edge of the car frame.

"Heero," she muttered randomly, the image of his face breaking into her mind unbidden. "Was it worth it?"


	13. Bewildered Warriors

_A/N- Extremely sorry for the slow update guys! I'll explain at the end please enjoy an extra long chapter as repayment!  
_

* * *

**Episode 12: Bewildered Warriors**

_Summary: Heero wakes up at the circus where Trowa's hiding and learns he has been unconscious for a month. Sally Po is helping some rebels from her home and runs into Wufei. He thinks he can't fight any longer because he is weak and can only beat those weaker than himself. Sally convinces him that it doesn't matter if he's weak all that matters is he fights with his heart. Trowa meanwhile decides to make a stand against the OZ soldiers coming to see the circus show._

* * *

**At the detonation site of Gundam 00-**

"Sir, all the gundanium fragments have been gathered. We're just waiting for the majority of them to be loaded onto the transports," said the solider, standing stiffly upright as he reported to the masked lighting count.

"Fine. How long until they're ready for departure?" Zechs asked in an uninterested tone, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. The pride of OZ sat at a standard military issued desk, the computer before him running the newly collected data on the two destroyed gundams.

"I would say three or four hours Lieutenant, around dusk."

"Dusk?" Zechs murmured. Slowly, trying not to appear shocked, Zechs turned his head to the small window in the office. _That late already, I've been staring at these schematics longer than I realized,_ he thought, noticing the oranges and pinks just beginning to appear in the sky that had been a bright blue when he came inside. "How long should it take us to reach Lake Victoria?" he asked the young solider.

"Only about two, two and a half days. We've enough drivers to go straight through, and the roadways are well maintained," came the quick response.

"A plane would be so much faster," Zechs complained with a sigh, tilting back his head and staring at the ceiling. _But then the higher powers of OZ will find out about this MS, and I doubt they'll let me work on it without meddling. It's in a lot better shape than the one I fought…we might even get it working again…._

"Lieutenant?" the solider interrupted the train of thought, looking at him curiously.

"That's fine, tell everyone to keep up the hard work," Zechs replied. With a smart salute and click of his boots the solider did an about face and strode out of the room, leaving the Lighting Count alone with the data rolling on his computer screen. Merquise forced himself to shut off the monitor, rubbing his burning eyes as he rose stiffly from the chair.

_What exactly am I planning on doing with these gundam?_ He thought, moving over to stand in front of the open window. _Rebuild and learn what I can from them but then what? It's not as though I can fight in one of them, they're a symbol for the colonies after all, OZ wouldn't stand for it._ Shouting from outside broke his contemplation and the blond peered out curiously, turning and striding out the door when the limited view didn't reveal the source of the increasing shouting.

"Come out with your hands up!" One of the men was commanding as Zechs stepped outside. Three of the soldiers stood in a loose semi-circle around the back of a transport trucks; two with their hands on their weapons and the third with his pointed into the dark interior.

"Did you attend military training or merely watch police shows on television?" the masked commander asked in disdain, walking over and forcing the solider to lower his gun. "Do you honestly think anyone would respond to that type of language?"

"Umm, well I…" the man stuttered.

"Go back to your assigned duties," Zechs ordered, dismissing him and turned to one of the others. "What's going on here?"

"Sir there's someone in there. One of the men spotted a stranger in the camp but when he went to speak to them they ran into the vehicle!"

"Cause he had a gun pointed at me!" piped a frightened voice from the darkness inside the trailer.

_Sounds like a kid_, _and a girl at that,_ Zechs thought to himself, then aloud said firmly, "Come out please, we've put our weapons down." He looked at the two remaining soldiers at the second half of his speech, nodding at them to holster their guns. Reluctant yet obedient they did so and the Lightning Count turned his attention back to the truck. Slowly, cautiously a pale face came forward from the darkness.

"A young kid," Zechs murmured, watching as she stepped over the fragments of gundanium and slid nervously onto the tailgate. In a slightly louder but gentle tone he questioned, "What are you doing here? This is a military organization, civilians aren't welcome." The girl flinched as he said this, letting out a small whimper.

"I just…I thought it'd be safe!" she broke out wailing, tears welling in her eyes. "The suits last night demolished my home, I don't know what to do!" Caught off guard by the outburst Zechs paused for a moment to study her. The French braids in her hair were messy, strands of hair sneaking lose of their confines; one braid splotched with bits of dried blood. Bruises and half-healed cuts coated her face and arms, disappearing under her muddied t-shirt and black pants.

_Something…there's something I'm supposed to…_ Zechs struggled to order his thoughts, a feeling that he should know _something_ washing over him as he looked at her face.

"What're you gonna do with me?" the girl interrupted his thoughts, voice quavering with suppressed crying.

"First off we'll get you cleaned up, and when was the last time you ate?" Zechs asked, rubbing gently at his temples under the helmet as the faint feeling of recognition faded. Turning to one of the soldiers he spoke with the air of a commander, "Take her to Noin, and…"

"Sir Lieutenant Noin is away on your orders," the soldier reminded him with a gentle interruption.

"Fine, find one of the women recruits to help her get cleaned up. I'll scrounge up some food."

"Are you certain Sir? I mean we could take care of it," the other recruit stuttered with a look of surprise while his companion helped the girl jump down from the back of the truck.

"I'm sure," Zechs confirmed as he watched them walk away, the little girl trustingly slotting her smaller hand into the soliders' callused one.

* * *

Half an hour later Zechs stood in the makeshift mess hall, carrying a tray of food to one of the sturdy tables. The door creaked open, the bright artificial light and darkness from outside mixing to blur the entering individual.

"Relena?" the OZ solider questioned, stunned. _Noin wasn't supposed to bring her here,_ he thought anxiously, fighting to keep his breathing normal.

"No," a young voice responded just as Zechs' eyes adjusted to the bright light and he saw the figure was girl that had hidden in the truck. "My name's Leena actually, close though," she corrected, gazing up at him as she pulled her wet hair up back up into a ponytail. _Relena_? _Where'd he pull that from?_ Alexa thought, smiling to hide the flash of surprise that shot through her. _He can't be talking about that girl Heero knows can he?_

She looked just like her for a second there…older than before with her hair out of those braids. But she…I must be imagining. Zechs thought, closing his eyes for a moment to regain his composure. "Sorry," he apologized after a strained pause, motioning her toward where he'd set the tray of food. "For a minute you looked like someone else I knew." Still fighting to remain composed he pulled out one of the metal chairs across from her and pushed the soup bowl towards her.

"That you," Alexa replied quickly, purposely slurping and splashing the soup as though she were starving. "Who's Relena?" she asked innocently, spoon clattering against the bottom of the bowl as she ate. Zechs hesitated for second, put on guard by some instinctive feeling.

"My sister," he finally said, eyeing the younger girl warily.

"I have a sister too!" Alexa piped up, keeping up the façade of a lost child. "She was staying in town with one of her friends when the mobile suits came."

"What about your parents?"

"They're gone visiting grandma and grandpa…I hope they're not worried…" she gulped nervously, pausing in her eating.

"We'll find you somewhere to contact them as soon as we can Leena" Zechs reassured her, carefully phrasing the correct name this time, keeping his gaze on her for any unusual response.

'_He can't have meant that girl Heeros knows',_ Alexa thought then corrected herself under a wave of sadness, '_knew…'_ The soupspoon hovering in midair for a split second as emotion filled her. _No,_ she thought firmly and resumed eating._ Though it is creepy that her name's so close to my false one, I've been using this one forever._

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Why do we have to have different names?" Heero asked. The kindergarten aged boy hung upside down with his arms and legs from the thick limb of a tree; gravity carrying his spiked locks out of his eyes._

"_Cause that's part of pretending!" Alexa huffed, crossing her arms fiercely. "No one ever pretends to be themselves!"_

"Fine," the young boy replied, grunting as he pulled himself upright again. "Who are you then?"

"Ummm," the blond hummed, knuckles in her mouth. "Leena, "she finally said, nodding her head sharply in confirmation. "I'll be the princess Leena and you can be the hero who comes in and saves her when the kingdom's attacked.

"Fine," the brown haired boy answered amicably though without enthusiasm. "I'll be Heero and you can be Leena…"

"_No! You're name's not Heero! That's WHAT you're apposed to be!" the blond interrupted, stamping a foot in irritation._

"_Nope, you said that I was Heero," he said firmly, grinning and beginning to walk away. "You want me to play or not?"_

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" she yelped, hurrying after him as Heero laughed and stuck his tongue out before sprinting playfully away.

End Flashback

* * *

"Did you get enough to eat…Leena?" Zechs interrupted her trip down memory lane.

"Uh huh," she nodded, responding instantly to the code name. And I used it so much for pretending that I react just as well as to my real name. She thought, grinning at the success of her infiltration.

"We'll drop you off in town when we leave, why don't you go and catch some sleep before we head out?"

"Thank you very much for the food sir," she smiled warmly at Zechs, doing her best to look young and naïve. _And for this perfect opportunity…_

* * *

True night had fallen as Alexa eased herself out of the window, lowering soundlessly to the ground. The shouts and bright spotlights as the OZ soldiers continued to load the fragments of gundanium surrounded her but the girl pilot stuck easily to the shadows; making her way to an unattended truck that rested quietly in the darkness.

_This should be the one,_ she thought, silently crawling into the dark interior. Casting a cautious glance over her shoulder she palmed on a weak flashlight, shining it around the interior.

"I believe this is what you're looking for?" a male voice startled her and the flashlight beam froze as it encountered a red uniform. Zechs rose from his sitting position, a flat, rectangular box in his gloved hands. Alexa looked at it for moment, and then studied the Lieutenant with a thoughtful expression.

"How'd you know?" she asked finally. Zechs smiled.

"I noticed as I was scanning the list of parts that the cockpit was still about 90 intact. I assumed none of you pilots would give OZ the chance at such valuable information like how your suits operate," he explained, looking down at the object in his hands. "Plus the mobile suits fighting the night before never made it more than half a mile from the track here…there were no homes close enough to be destroyed."

"Well I didn't exactly have a lot of time to plan the perfect cover story," Alexa relented, blue eyes darting nervously between the OZ pilot and the trucks open back door as though expecting an ambush. "So what do I have to do to get that laptop back from you?" Zechs didn't answer, just held out the computer for her to take. The teenage girl looked up at him distrustfully but took the computer anyway. "What's the catch?" she questioned, still watching him nervously.

"There isn't one," Zechs replied, shaking his head in affirmation. "If you leave now the others will never notice, I'll even make the excuses for why you disappeared."

"Why are you going this?" she questioned, pulling off her belt and using it to snug the computer to her back.

"Let's just say I feel some admiration toward you pilots, the chance to be able to fight you in a fair battle is all the repayment I desire."

"All right, not like I really have any choice but to believe you," Alexa grumbled, still looking at him warily but more relaxed in her posture. Zechs grinned.

"I do have a favor to ask though."

"Of course you do, it could never be this easy," the pilot spat out sarcastically, tensed again.

"Nothing big," Zechs assured her, taking a step closer and tentatively stretching out a hand; Alexa standing defiantly still. "All I need is…" his gloved fingers brushed a loose strand of hair and tweaked one loose. "…a little sample," he concluded, stepping back again. The girl glared at him, looking unsure what she should say in response.

"Don't worry," the masked count stated as he headed for the open door. "OZ will never find out about this, and when your gundam is rebuilt I hope you'll come back and we may have a longer conversation."

"Are you sure you're an OZ solider?" Alexa questioned skeptically.

"Hmph," Zechs smirked, glancing back over his shoulder. "I fight for my own reasons, OZ just happens to be heading in the same direction as myself."

* * *

**At the traveling circus**

"Your friend's awake!" Catherine called as she came out of the trailer, causing both Trowa and Alexa to look up from their task of repairing tack for the circus' horse routine.

"Why don't you go in first," Trowa offered, turning back and inspecting the leather for any signs of wear.

"Nah, you're the one who save him," Alexa responded, laying her work on her lap and nodding to Catherine that they had heard. Then she grinned impishly at Trowa, "Plus I'm not sure how he's going to react to still being alive."

"So you'll sacrifice me to the lion instead?" the other pilot responded, just a hint of laughter in his tone.

"Why not?" she answered, flashing him a toothy grin so huge it forced her eyes shut. Shaking his head Trowa stood up, allowing Catherine to take his place as he headed into the trailer.

"Glad to see you two are getting along," the knife-throwing acrobat said companionably as she sat down beside the other girl.

"Me and Trowa?" the pilot asked, looking up at the older girl. Alexa shrugged her shoulders and added, "I guess so. He doesn't say much, at least out loud, but you can tell he's always thinking something." Catherine looked at her intently as the blond girl concentrated on forming her nebulous thoughts into coherent words. "I feel as if I only wait long enough he could tell me the answers to all of the problems of the world."

"Wow that's sure giving him a lot of credit," Catherine giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. "But yeah," she added growing more solemn, " Sometimes I feel that way too." The acrobat sighed, " Now if only he would let us in the loop…."

"I'll leave some food and keys to the car. Stay here and concentrate on getting better," Alexa heard Trowa say as she opened the trailer door.

"What are you planning to do?" she and Heero echoed in unison. Alexa grimaced at the awkwardness of it but both boys kept their faces impassive. Trowa, who was standing just inside the entrance, merely flicked his gaze up to acknowledge her entrance.

"On my colony a consensus wasn't reached to fight using the gundams," Trowa began explaining, moving over to let Alexa inside and then leaning against the creamy wall. "The attack was started by a small percentage of the population who felt strongly against it. I was one of those people." With the end of his speech Trowa refused to look at either of his fellow pilots, seeming slightly embarrassed.

"There's nothing wrong with acting on your emotions, at least that's what I was taught," Heero supplied, and Alexa blinked in surprise and looked over at him.

_Is Heero, being sympathetic?_ The girl pilot thought, _That's unusual… _

"I must not give OZ a reason to invade the colonies, it wouldn't be rational," Trowa continued, finally gaining the courage to glance coolly over at the pilot lying bandaged on the bed. "So I will do as you have done, I must simply follow my emotions."

"Wait a minute!" Alexa burst in, understanding dawning on her face. "Don't go being an idiot Trowa!"

"It's his decision Lex, let him do what he wants," Heero commanded, pushing himself up on his elbows to glare at her.

"But it's so stupid!" she shot back, throwing angry glances from one boy to another, her blue eyes finally settling on Trowa. "I can guess what you're planning for that little 'act' you told the ringmaster you'd put on Trowa."

"And?" Trowa asked simply, his resolve unshaken.

"What's the point of shooting a couple of OZ soldiers right now?" Alexa fought back the rush of anger but her words still came out hot and fast and her hands were balled into fists. "All that'll do is reveal where one of the gundams is and send them here to stop you, even if they don't involve the colonies!"

"Then at least people will know there's someone out there still fighting," the long haired pilot said, turning away from her and heading for the door. The blond pilot growled, opening her mouth to say more when Heero slapped her on the back of the head. Alexa let out a little yelp of surprise, she hadn't even heard the other gundam pilot rise out from the cot and shuffle over to.

"What the?" Trowa exclaimed, frozen halfway through opening the door when he heard the slap of flesh on flesh.

"It's his life, not yours," Heero hissed, glowering at her, then making his way, slowly and painfully, back to the bed.

"Did you just…?" Trowa gasped, shocked at the small display of violence.

"He owed me one," Alexa muttered, gently rubbing the back of her head. "'Sides, it didn't really hurt," she added, shooting a cold glance at Heero. Still surprised Trowa just stood with one hand on the doorknob for a moment, his usual emotionless mask twitching at the edges. "Go on Trowa," Alexa finally broke the silence, dropping her hand. "Do whatever you think you need to." Her face was cooled of all anger as she met the boys' gaze. "I wish you luck." The teenager didn't answer, just nodded hesitantly in silent acknowledgement. With a final, curious glance at the once again prostrate Heero, Trowa gave a small shrug and opened the door; disappearing in a ray of sunlight.

"You never know when you're pushing it too far," Heero commented as soon at the door shut and they were alone.

"I…" Alexa started, then sighed and slumped down into a chair. "Maybe…thanks for snapping me out of it."

"You needed it…and I did owe you," he said simply. "What are you doing here anyways Lex?" Heero asked, shifting a little so he could rest his head on the wall at the top of the bed and see her easier.

"What am I doing here?" she repeated in confusion. "Grasping that you're still alive for one, and now apparently keeping Trowa from making a huge mistake."

"Forget about Trowa, our mission is to take down OZ."

"I can't DO anything about OZ right now!" she hissed, angrily tapping the fingers of one hand on the ceramic tabletop.

"Hmph," was all Heero said, closing his eyes and laying down once more. Alexa glared at him.

"Like you could think of something useful to do right now. All we can do is wait for the next move OZ makes." When he didn't make any response the girl pilot stood up and headed out the door. "You're wrong you know," she said softly to herself, closing the door and leaning her head against it. "My mission isn't just to OZ…it's to you guys as well…"

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Why can't I pilot the gundam? I scored almost as high as Heero on all the tests you gave us!" Alexa stood in the shadowed hallway, Doctor J a few steps ahead of her. _

"_Is that what you really want?" he asked, turning slowly back to face her. The teenage girl nodded firmly, staring at him with blue eyes. "Fine," the old man replied, turning away again so his face was in the shadows. "But you have to do something extra for me then."_

"_What exactly did you have in mind?" Alexa asked, instantly wary but still desperate to fight in a gundam of her own._

"_Oh nothing too hard, just a little team bonding."_

"_Huh? Team bonding?"_

"Oh just keeping the boys in line, you'll see once this war starts. Just remember that you owe me," the scientist absently waved his good hand as he walked away, leaving the confused girl standing in the empty hall with a confused and suspicious look on her face.

End Flashback

* * *

_I understand now, Alexa thought as she wandered away. Those crazy old guys had this planned all along. It'd be too easy for OZ to find them if they stuck together, so instead they trained us all separately. But they knew at some point we'd have to work together… _The blond scuffed a brown hiking boot in the dirt, shoving her hands deep into her pockets as she thought. _J never really cared how well I could pilot a suit, just as long as I could act as informant for Heero and the others. I'm not really supposed to fight like the others…just keep them on track…But how the heck do I do that when they're all so stubborn?_

* * *

A/N- Again guys I'm so sorry that I took so long to update. Everyone was really good about PMing me with a review and I totally spaced this story with another that I'm working on. Then when I came back to it I had a really rough time writing the scene between Alexa and Zechs. Please let me know what you think and I promise that the next chapter will get posted before I do anything else for my other stories! Hope you enjoyed, please REVIEW!


	14. Catherines Tears

_A/N- Yeah, this one is a little shorter but hopefully the quick update will make up for it. Hopefully from now on I will be able to keep up a weekly update on this story. Enjoy and thanks for the reviews so far guys!_

**Episode 13: Catherines Tears**

_Summary: Two Oz soldiers (Noins' old students) are destroying alliance bases and they recruit Zechs to help them. He thinks they are just getting the bases to surrender but they are massacring everyone without remorse so he kills them. At the circus Trowa is planning to self-destruct before Oz can use the colonies as a shield but Catherine is so upset that he can't do it._

* * *

"Zechs!" I didn't expect to hear from you so soon!" Noins' tone was excited though her smile was controlled on the video feed.

"Yeah, I just have a question to ask you," The other pilot stated, seeming a little uncomfortable from her attention. "Do you know anyone who deals in DNA analysis?"

"DNA analysis? What in the world for?" The dark haired lieutenant questioned, obvious confusion coloring her features.

"I need to compare a sample to Relena's DNA," Zechs responded.

"Zechs what did you…" Noin began, her voice trailing off when it became clear he was already off on other thoughts. "I'm sure I can find someone, OZ has a lot of specialized personnel and I can call some favors," she said instead, reverting to military mode. "I take it you need me to get a sample from Relena as well?"

"Please," Zechs answered, seeming to pull himself back to the conversation. "Thank you for all of your help Noin, I owe you one."

"Maybe," Noin bantered back playfully, switching off the screen before more than Zechs' shocked face could register. The female lieutenant laughed quietly as she walked away, shaking her head at his reaction.

* * *

Dusk shadows were just setting in as Alexa carried the water pails to the circus' lion cage. The tawny colored male was pacing the confines of his pen, growling and showing his teeth a little as she approached.

"Excited for show time?" the girl asked him soothingly, deftly sliding the full bucket through the feeding hatch. The growling rumbled on a few more notes, dropping almost to a purring equivalent as he tentatively stuck his whiskered muzzle out to sniff the bucket. Alexa gave a small smile, but the grinding of truck gears tore her gaze away from the slurping carnivore. The blonds eyes narrowed as she spotted Trowa addressing the ring master from the cab of a huge transport vehicle. Biting her lip and frowning the girl pilot turned on her heel and strode off in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe he's going to do it," she muttered, dodging practicing acrobats and finally slipping around the corner of a tent to escape the pre-show bustle. Alexa let out a sigh as she walked more slowly through the quiet, eventually ending up on a worn path that wandered through the sparse trees. The shrill cry of a bird didn't divert her internal thoughts and the teenager continued down the shadowed path, hands sunk deep in her pockets.

_What purpose does he think this will serve?_ Alexa thought, blue eyes distracted by thought kept only enough focus to keep her on the dirt path. _It's not like knocking down a few OZ soldiers is going to make them fear us again. They know that they have us right where they want us while the colonies are defenseless…_ The roar of the surf finally pulled her out of her reverie, and Alexa looked up in surprise to see that she had rounded the bend and come out on a rocky beach, the foaming waves swirling around the granite rocks.

"What's the point!" she yelled suddenly, stomping forward on the ragged stone until the spray from the waves speckled her arms. "Wow…." She muttered, flushing with embarrassment as the cool water snapped her back to reality. "Am I that out of control?" Alexa took a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting it back out slowly. The teenager took a step back from the crashing waves, sitting herself down on dry portion of the boulder and looking out at the water. "What's my problem?" she questioned softly, resting her head in cupped hands.

_I'm just stressed, finding out that Heero was still alive was a huge shock,_ she contemplated, eyes roving over the white-capped waves. _And not being able to do anything against OZ is pretty frustrating too._ Alexa sighed, _I can hack just about any information I want from OZ right now but I can't use it!_ For several moments the blond girl just sat there silently, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her weary head on them. The roaring waves continued crashing on the shore, the occasional bigger one releasing a mist that settled glittering drops in her blond hair.

_No one ever said it was going to be easy, _Alexa resumed her thinking. _But maybe Trowa's right, there's no point in just sitting around…no wonder I'm crazy from doing nothing. I guess I'll just have to fight OZ however I can for the time being._ She tilted her head back looking up at the blue sky for reassurance. _And keep myself in control…maybe I don't like what Doctor J did to Heero but his training did have some good points, and staying cool and collected was definitely one of them._ Her face twitched in a wry smile as she added, _I think a little too much of Duo is rubbing off on me, I'll have to give that boy a piece of my mind when I get back!_ The laughing cry from a gull echoed across the water as she thought this, as though the animal were agreeing with her.

* * *

"That carrier is transporting enough fuel for twenty shuttles. Meaning OZ is starting to position their space army in preparation for conquest." Trowa murmured to himself, lowering the night vision binoculars and staring at the aircraft with his bare eyes.

"So we want to take care of them BEFORE they get up there I take it?" Alexa asked approaching quietly from one side. Trowa blinked in surprise to see her, then the edges of his lips twitched in a smile as he registered what she said.

"No," he admitted reluctantly, throwing a thoughtful glance at the two carriers, "I'm sure they have other supply lines than this one. It will only make them tighten security elsewhere if we try something now."

"Well we'll just have to make it look like it's their fault then and not ours," the girl said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders before reaching out and silently asking for the binoculars. Trowa handed them to her with a curious stare. "Hmm," Alexa murmured, fiddling a little with the dial as she evaluated the site. "Shouldn't be too hard to sneak in and do some tinkering…"

"Just because I've chosen to fight doesn't mean you need to as well," Trowa told her pointedly. "Plus without a mobile suit…" he began then trailed off, apparently unsure where he had been heading with that point. Alexa lowered the binoculars, blue eyes turning to meet his green ones.

"MS or not my mission is to wreak havoc on OZ. I have the opportunity right now, I'd be a fool not to take it" she said, voice devoid of any emotion other than determination. The boy nodded slightly, admitting defeat in the argument. "Come on T," Alexa chattered out, grinning impishly to try and cheer him up. "We're going to give them a performance they won't soon forget."

"Right," the other pilot responded after a second of silence, the silent smile on his face barely visible in the darkness.

* * *

The repeated tat, tat, tat of shooting bullets cued Alexa into a rush toward the carriers. The young girl kept low, sticking to the darkest shadows as the OZ guards began yelling incoherent questions at one another over the noise of battle. "Come on, come on, leave already," she urged them quietly, laying flat on her belly in the shadow of one of the landing wheels. The two directly in front of the door wavered for a moment, then set off at a swift jog towards the circus grounds, drawing their guns as they ran. "Yes!" Alexa hissed, slipping from her hiding place to sneak through the open hatch. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the half-lit interior, a lot brighter than the full dark outside. "Let's see," she muttered, treading quietly across the metal floor panels. "I doubt they'll check for any physical problems at this stage, so I'll just have to make sure none of the sensor pick anything up…" An emergency escape hatch caught her attention, and she paused for a moment to fiddle with the latch.

"Deactivate the whole, open door warning system? Why I think I shall," she grinned happily, immediately pulling off the protective panel and fingering with the wires underneath. "I'm sure they'll be surprised when their cargo hatch falls open unexpectedly mid-flight," she whispered, fighting to control her excited laughter.

* * *

"You're the one that brainwashed my Trowa with your strange ideas," Catherine scolded Heero jokingly, though she couldn't hide the relief in her voice. "I won't let you off so easy next time," she said in goodbye, jumping down from the cab of the transport truck. The boys heard her telling Alexa to watch out for them, then the girl pilot's head popped up in the window as she crawled up to join them.

"That girls' tears stopped me," Trowa said when she slammed the door shut, Heero scooting over to make room. "If you would have been in my shoes you still would have done it, right?" The gundam pilot dropped his head in slight shame as he added sincerely, "Now you should know why I admire your strength…both of you."

"Huh?" Alexa questioned, caught off guard at being included.

"You had the courage to self detonate as well," Trowa pointed out, turning the key in its ignition as he spoke. "As well as the strength to aid me in a mission you didn't believe in."

"I said this before," Heero spoke steadily, glancing over at the other boy. "The only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions." The truck cab was silent except for the rumble of the engine, all three gundam pilots lost in their own thoughts.

"Let's get going," Trowa finally said, shifting the vehicle into gear.

"Yeah," Heero responded, shifting his gaze to stare straight ahead, already focused on their next mission.


	15. The Order to Destroy 01

**Episode 14- The Order to Destroy 01,**

_Summary: Noin brings Relena to a meeting of Romefellar leaders (including Treize) where she causes trouble by giving an impromptu speech. Heero is going to apologize to the family of the pacifist Alliance leaders he killed, starting with Marshall Noventas' grandaughter. He gives her a chance to kill him but she hasn't the courage to do it. Meanwhile Zechs blows up a fake gundam to pacify Oz that he isn't rebuilding it._

* * *

OZ Base, computer station

"Finding anything?" Alexa asked curiously as she peered over Heeros' shoulder at the computer screen.

"This," the brown head nodded, indicating the current screen. Blue eyes peered forward at the short message, lips moving silently as she read.

"I don't get it…" the girl admitted, pulling back and looking at the other pilot in confusion.

"Arrival time, fourteen hundred hours, OZ shuttle carrying important persons," Heero read off, sitting back in the chair and folding his arms over his chest with a slight wince of pain.

"If I recall correctly I was the one who taught YOU how to read," Alexa snarled quietly, slightly irritated. "Now what about it?"

"The coast is clear," Trowa interrupted, entering the darkened room and closing the door securely behind him. "If we aren't here for too long there shouldn't be any problems." The other two pilots nodded in comprehension.

"To prove it wasn't your fault," Heero continued as though they hadn't been interrupted, turning back to the computer screen and pulling up a new screen. "Even double checking your information at New Edwards wouldn't have made any difference. They didn't just spread rumors that this was a meeting of OZ officials instead of alliance pacifists, they documented everything as though it was too."

"Yeah but if I had managed to get there before they put them on the shuttle, I could have seen who was boarding…"

"And you want me to believe that you know the face of every pacifist leader in the world?" Heero pointed out, looking at her in frank disbelief. Alexas' face fell and she sighed, looking at the screen with hesitant acceptance as Trowa finally came over to join them, leaning against the low countertop.

"Right," Alexa finally admitted, and Heero nodded in acknowledgment.

"So you can't take any serious blame for what happened at New Edwards then," he said, turning back to the computer and typing away intently.

"Umm…I guess so," she agreed, sitting down in a chair next to him with a cautious expression. "Why you trying so hard to get me guilt free?"

"Because I've decided how to atone for my mistakes," he replied coolly, systematically working away at the computer and ignoring her raised eyebrows. "And I may need you to finish this mission for me."

"What are you planning this time?"

"I have the names of the pacifist leaders that were killed on that shuttle. I'm going to give their families a chance to lay judgment on me." The pilots' words were steady and emotionless. Alexa swallowed back her quick response.

"Judgment huh?" Trowa questioned, eyeing Heero with an air of curiosity.

"Yeah," he replied, twisting to grab one of the disks but dropping it with a grunt of pain as his injuries made themselves known.

"Take better care," Trowa scolded gently, picking it up

"Huh?" Heero stated in surprise, watching as the taller boy slid the disk into the computer drive.

"Of your body I mean," he explained, all three gundam pilots eyeing the bandages on Heeros' arm. "May I?" Trowa asked, sliding in to work at the monitor and finishing up Heeros' work. "Here" the longhaired boy said, a photo of a girl about their age appearing on the screen.

"That's Sylvia Noventa," Heero iterated, "She's in Marsellies."

"Are you sure that's where you want to begin?" Trowa asked, looking out from under his long bangs.

"Yeah" Heero nodded, standing up slowly to keep from jarring his wounded ribs. "Alexa?" he asked, catching the blonds attention as she started to open the door. He opened his mouth to continue but she cut him off.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it if the time comes," the girl pilot said, meeting his eyes for a moment and then returning her attention to the hallway. _I just hope it won't,_ she thought, glancing both directions down the dark hallway and motioning for the boys to follow. _But maybe clearing your conscious will help take care of mine._

* * *

Lake Victoria Base

"Tell me Zechs, will you follow their orders to destroy the gundams?" Noin questioned the OZ pilot, though the masked man had his back to the communications monitor.

"There's only one gundam according to OZ," he muttered so that she could barely hear him. "How's Relena doing?" he asked louder, shifting the conversation.

"She's a ball of energy," Noin admitted, letting him get away with not answering. "It's not easy to escort her."

"How much does she know?"

"It seems that Mr. Darlian, her foster father, told her quite a lot before he passed away. I've told her that you're a respectable and trustworthy solider who was brought up in the Sanc Kingdom. I also mentioned to her that you were the only one present when 01 self-detonated, and that you're reconstructing that gundam. Which has lead Relena to believe that the pilot of that gundam, Heero Yuy, must have somehow made it out of there alive.

"Heero Yuy…so that's the name of that pilot," Zechs murmured.

"Relena appears to have a connection with him, much like yourself," Noin continued.

"I understand," the blond man replied. He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot for a second, then taking a deep breath asked, "Any results back on the DNA testing yet?"

"No," the dark haired woman shook her head. "I sent in the sample you gave me, and strand of Relenas' hair but they haven't finished running the tests yet."

"Thanks for keeping me informed Noin," Zechs said graciously, seemingly relieved.

"Why do you want to know so much about this girl pilot? You're not even going to tell Relena about yourself are you Zechs?" his old comrade asked, then added quickly before he had time to respond, "Over and out." The communications screen turned off with a beep, leaving Zechs alone in the silence.

"How could I do that? After all, I'm Zechs Merquis, part of the organization responsible for this bloodbath," he said to himself, gazing out the window in thought. "Relena is already an active voice against battle of any kind and that pilot…Lexi…it has to be her." The masked pilot placed a gloved hand against the cool glass window, his mind slipping back into memories.

* * *

_--Flashback--_

_"Master Milliardo will you go and fetch your sisters?" a uniformed servant asked, beaming down at the seven year old boy. He nodded eagerly and slipped through the heavy oak doors and into the nursery._

_"Lexi! Leena come on!" he called, his blond hair swinging around his ears. Two toddlers sat on the red carpeted floor, playing with some wooden blocks that they immediately discarded as their older brother appeared._

_"__Mil! Mil!" the one with lighter hair cried, pushing herself up and toddling over as fast as her little legs would carry her._

"_Mil-yar-do," he annunciated slowly, kneeling down when she reached him. "Try it again Lexi."_

"_Mahdo!" she tried again, squealing and giggling ecstatically at him._

"_Close enough," he muttered, her happy demeanor infectious. "Come on," he commanded, crouching down and helping her climb onto his back. Her chubby arms wrapped tight around her neck and he boosted her butt up a little higher before extending one hand to the toddling Relena. "We're going to go see dad," the young prince explained to his sisters as they headed for the door. Relena followed dutifully alongside, her small hand in his while Alexa babbled the word daddy over and over again in his ear._

* * *

Just outside the town of Marsellies

"Heero? You said your name was Heero Yuy?" the girl asked, still trying to puzzle out what the brown headed teenager wanted. He nodded but didn't say anything else and Sylvia Noventa was left wondering what was going through his mind.

"Heero Yuy?" Trowa almost whispered, Alexa glanced up and over her shoulder to see the pilot of Heavyarms from where he sat in the drivers seat. "Is that really his name?" he asked her.

"Is Trowa yours?" she retorted quickly, standing on the running boards of the truck and keeping on eye on the two teenagers in the graveyard. "Sorry," Alexa apologized as she noticed Trowa drawing back and staring silently out the windshield. "I'm honestly not sure what it is," she admitted, knowing the other pilot was still listening. "I've called him Heero as long as I can remember though." Suddenly a confused look appeared on her face, and Alexa twisted her neck around to look as Trowa. "Didn't I ever tell you his name before?"

"No," the quiet boy replied, still staring straight ahead. "You guys always seemed to know when you were talking to one another, I never heard you use his name."

"Well ain't that the strangest…" the girl pilot murmured, shifting her gaze back to Heero and Marshall Noventas' granddaughter.

"This is my grandfathers grave right here," Sylvia gestured with her arm. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Heero didn't answer immediately; instead the gundam pilot kneeled down and gently placed the bouquet of flowers on the grassy grave. Silently he stood up, pulling a handgun from his pocket and offering it to the young girl, barrel pointed at himself.

"I was the one who killed Marshall Noventa," Heero told her, standing motionless as she stared in shock at the pistol.

"Huh?"

"I made a critical mistake, and accidentally shot down the shuttle Marshall Noventa was on, killing him and all the other people who'd also been advocating peace," the pilot explained, sorrow sneaking into his tone though the words remained steady.

"How could you? What happened?" Sylvia stuttered, in shock at what was happening.

"This is the only thing I can do for you right now. Sylvia Noventa," Heero continued, still cool and collected as the girl gasped in pain and roughly grabbed the gun from his hand. "I can't undo my mistake. I can only hope that the anger felt by the Marshalls' loved ones and the regrets of the Marshall's soul can be somewhat eased if you pull that trigger," he confessed, standing tall and looking at the girl with steady eyes as she pointed the gun towards him, arms shaking from the stress of the situation. Over at the transport truck Alexa flinched, just barely stopping herself from jumping down and running over to the pair.

_Heero…Can't you think of a way to live where your life isn't constantly in danger?_ The blond pilot thought, knuckles turning white as she clutched the open window frame.

"You're such a coward! It's obvious that you just want to take the easy way out of this!" Sylvia cursed, staring at him down the barrel of the gun.

"This is the only answer I can offer you right now," Heero repeated, still standing stock still before Sylvia as she broke down crying.

"You coward…you coward…" she sobbed, the handgun barrel dropping to point to the ground by her feet.

"Try to understand, I didn't come here to make you suffer any more than you already have. I'm leaving now," the gundam pilot explained, turning to the waiting truck. "To go and pay a visit to your grandmother. I heard she's living over in Sicily."

"What?" she gasped, looking up at him with tear filled eyes with surprise.

"This is where it starts," Trowa sighed. Alexa nodded, listening to him with half an ear as she watched Heero walking towards them. "He goes from one family member to the next, seeking their verdict. Everything this guy does is completely thorough and well thought out," the boy continued, his normally emotionless voice just barely masking awe. "Everything Heero Yuy does…."

"It's what we were trained for," Alexa whispered, not really caring if Trowa heard her or not. "Not to do something unless we dedicated our entire selves to it….though I think Heero's succeeded better than me…"

"Wars are nothing but repulsive killings!" Sylvia Noventas' voice broke into the quiet exchange. "So how is it that you can be so clear-cut about it all?" the girl shouted to Heero.

"It's the only way I know how to live," the pilot answered, looking over his shoulder with an emotionless mask for a face, and then continuing walking to the truck.

* * *

Just outside the Lake Victoria Base-

"Not that I think we'll find anything out of the ordinary, that man's too careful to get careless about details," the OZ official inspector groused to the lowly soldiers as they headed towards the blast site of what had been the partially rebuilt 01. Zechs watched them motor over the aqua-blue water, heading straight for the still smoking remains.

_They won't find anything,_ he assured himself once more, mind drifting down to think of the two gundams lying hidden at the bottom of the lake.

* * *

In the Wilderness

Alexa blew gently on the hot soup, tentatively sticking the spoon into her mouth and licking her lips appreciatively after swallowing. The pilot glanced around and not seeing either of the boys she set the cover back on the pot and wandered over to the trailer truck. Twilight was just falling and the faint glow of a computer screen came from inside the cab, outline the basic shape of a human head. The girl pilot looked at the darkened window for several seconds, an uncertain and worried expression on her face. The clatter of tools on gundanium metal finally drew her gaze upward; the heavy tarp covering Heavyarms was pulled back with Trowa bending over the gundam.

"Dinner's ready," Alexa told him, scrambling up the side of the gundam to join the other pilot. Trowa nodded, not taking his eyes from the open compartment he was working on.

"Heero still resting?" he asked, grabbing a wrench and tightening a bolt.

"Yeah, he's in the cab. I gave him my laptop to keep busy," Alexa answered after a short pause. Trowas gaze flicked towards her for a moment, but the downhearted look on her face kept him quiet. Unbidden Alexa took the wrench from Trowa when he finished and settled it back in the maintenance kit while he double checked the wire connections. The male pilot finished one last scan of the interior, then wordlessly they shifted the gundanium plating back over the opening; Alexa holding the armor steady while Trowa locked it securely into place. The brown haired boy slid the maintenance kit back into its place then swung down to the door of the truck cab, watching her head back towards the fire with a slow stride.

"Hey," he addressed Heero, opening the door and startling the other pilot a little with his sudden appearance. "Dinner's ready." The other pilot simply nodded, closing the laptop lid and settling it down gently on the seat beside him.

"How's your arm?" Trowa asked as Heero maneuvered himself out of the truck cab.

"It's fine, don't worry about me," the other boy answered a little gruffly.

"I don't think I'm the one who's worried…" Trowa murmured back, leaving Heero standing wordlessly by the truck while he went over and joined Alexa at the campfire.

The spiked locks of his brown hair brushed Heeros' forehead as he stood in the twilight, watching Trowa grab one of the bowls before settling down on one side of Alexa. Catching himself just standing and staring, Heero swallowed hard and strode purposely over to the other pilots. His stride hesitated for just a moment when he got there, but then he reached out and placed his hand on Alexas' shoulder. For the briefest second he kept the physical contact, then withdrew his fingers and sat down nearby; grabbing the last bowl of soup with his good arm. The girls' light blue eyes flickered over to him for a second, and then went back to staring at her half empty bowl. The trio sat silently around the flickering flames, only the clink of spoons and bowls breaking the silence.

* * *

_A/N- That's it for another chapter. Don't know why but for some reason I had a lot of fun writing this one, maybe it's from thinking of all the things to come. Anyway please review and let me know what you think!_


	16. To the Battleground Antarctica

**Episode 15: To the battleground Antarctica-**

_Summary: Trowa and Heero finish speaking to the last of the Noventas when Noin shows up. She tells Heero that Zechs wants to have a mobile suit battle with him so he and Trowa go with her to the Antarctic base. Zechs is very eager, even sacrificing parts from the Tallgeese to finish restoring 01. The inspector for the detonation of 01 follows Noin and the boys but Trowa completely destroys all the MSs following them._

* * *

Just outside Sicily-

"This is the last stop, you still gonna stick around after he's finished?" Trowas' question was innocent enough, but his normally passive face was piqued with curiosity.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Alexa questioned, twisting around on the seat to see him better.

"I assumed it was to finish the mission if he couldn't," the other pilot shrugged, acting nonchalant. The blond looked at him skeptically, then shifted her gaze to where she could see Heero in the side mirror as he rewrapped his bandaged arm.

"You implying that I don't like you guys for your own sakes?" she turned Trowas' subtle accusations around, bright blue eyes open wide from the challenge.

"Heh, maybe." Trowa smiled, accepting that she had caught him.

"I thought about catching up with Duo and Quatre," Alexa reasoned, turning the conversation more serious and staring out the clear windshield without really focusing. "I'm guessing they stuck together,"

"What about the other pilot? Have you met up with him since we fought Treize?"

"Yeah…I guess so," she answered slowly, pointedly avoiding the curious gaze Trowa sent her way.

"What's his name?" he asked when the silence made it apparent that Alexa wasn't going to explain further.

"Wufei," the girl pilot replied, her half-hearted tone making it apparent that her mind was elsewhere.

* * *

Flashback

"I thought it was a simple question!" Alexa scowled at the Asian pilot as he turned away from her and stalked towards his gundam. The two of them where deep in the forest, the light filtering through so many leaves that it had gained a greenish hue. "I just wanted to know why you didn't attack the Tauros transports," she said, fighting hard to keep from raising her voice. However her hands were balled into fists and her blue eyes were cold as she stared at the pilot of Nataku. "It was a really important mission…"

"And you guys accomplished so much," Wufei cut her off sarcastically, smirking at her over his shoulder. Alexa flinched at the barbed words but her face kept its determined expression. "Not only did OZ manage to deliver those suits to the spaceport for launch but they also succeeded in silencing the gundams," he continued, gaze locked on her with an impassive expression. "I can't believe I'm arguing with a woman," he suddenly spat out, turning away in disgust and jumping into the cockpit of his gundam.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the girl pilot hollered as he punched the button that closed the hatch. Wufei kept his face composed as though he hadn't heard her, and Alexa flung an arm up to protect her eyes as the boosters on his gundam kicked in and he flew off.

"Jerk!" she yelled in frustration, gasping a little as her bruised ribs protested the abuse. Furiously she stomped back to the jeep the Maquanac core had borrowed her, slamming the door shut. "Stupid boy," she muttered, turning the key in the ignition and throwing the vehicle into gear; the tires spitting out loose gravel as she tore away down the dirt road.

End Flashback

* * *

"Ready?" Trowas' question pulled Alexa back, eyes blinking to clear her vision as Heero climbed into the truck cab and slammed the door shut.

"Yeah," the gundam pilot spoke with his usual control. Trowa nodded, shifting the transport into drive.

* * *

In the town of Sicily

"Going from place to place like this I figured it would only be a matter of time before someone found us." Trowa, muttered in slight disgust, eyeing the black car that had been tailing them through the marketplace.

"I'll take care of it," Heero offered, watching the vehicle from the corner of his eye.

"Wait, you better not overdo it in the state you're in," the other boy interjected, eyeing Heeros' bandaged arm discretely. "So I'll be the one to stop them."

"Hey! I'm not exactly useless!" Alexa growled out, giving him a small glare but Trowa merely shrugged, ignoring her offer.

"Trowa…" whispered Heero, unsure what the other boy was thinking.

"Come on," the pilot said matter of factly, twisting his head so both green eyes could see from under his long bangs. "Let's find somewhere to ambush them." Alexa hung back, looking from one to the other with open curiosity.

_Is Trowa really that worried about Heero?_ She thought, eyeing the two boys. _They have gotten close lately I guess, neither of them talks yet they understand each other perfectly. Huh, maybe they do know how to make friends…_

"Lex, let's go!" Heero shouted over his shoulder, frowning slightly as she trotted forward to catch up. Trowa, meanwhile, just kept walking; searching for a place to spring their trap.

_Just an assumption,_ she thought, shaking her head as she caught up to the boys. _And you know what they say about assumptions-- they make an ss out of you and me…_

* * *

"Thanks, we owe you one," Heero said, throwing an apple to Trowa when he returned from shaking off their pursuit.

"I still think I coulda done it," Alexa grumbled, sitting cross-legged on the bed of the truck as she bit into her own apple. "How hard can a motorcyle be to drive?" That got a chuckle out of Trowa and, to her surprise, Heero as well.

"If we're going to transport this thing we can't do it by land," Trowa commented after a pause, looking at the covered transport truck thoughtfully.

"Then by sea," Heero supplied the logical alternative.

"There's a ship I've had my eye on," Trowa admitted, "but now that we know for sure that we're being watched if might be too difficult."

"You can use my carrier," a strange, female voice offered, making all three pilots jerk their gazes to the alley entrance. "I didn't expect you to really be alive. This is the first time we meet, face to face," the uniformed woman continued as she walked into the dark alley, head bowed slightly in admiration. Reacting instinctively Trowa dropped the apple Heero had thrown him; smoothly and swiftly drawing a handgun and pointing it at the OZ solider. Up on the transport Alexa shifted to her feet, body poised for action. "My name is Lucrezia Noin. I serve under Colonel Zechs," the dark haired woman continued calmly, seemingly unafraid of the gun Trowa pointed directly at her.

"Zechs?" Heero questioned, unsure whether he should know that name.

"He was the pilot you fought against when you were out in Siberia," Noin explained. Turning to Alexa she added, "And you met him as well I believe. You're Leena right?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," the girl pilot responded coolly.

"Fine, we can play games if you want, I really don't' care," Noin shrugged and appeared unconcerned, though her mind was racing. _She looks almost exactly like Relena! And a bit of the same attitude too…maybe Zechs is right…._

"Don't think we won't put up a fight if you try and catch us" Trowa, interrupted her train of thought. The OZ lieutenant didn't rise to the challenge, but she coolly picked up the apple he had dropped, eyeing it as though she didn't have a loaded gun pointed at her heart.

"Colonel Zechs says he'd like to meet with you," Noin told them, determined to convey her message.

"He would?" Heero sputtered, apparently still in shock from the whole situation.

"Does he think he could pump us for information or something?" Trowa scowled.

"Don't misunderstand me. He's not requesting this as a solider of OZ. As a fellow pilot of mobile suit Colonel Zechs hopes to see you and hopes for another opportunity to fight you boys in the near future," Noin explained.

"So he wants to fight us again does he? Sounds like this Zechs fellow of yours in one hell of an admirable guy," Trowa said with some contempt, refusing to take his gaze off her. Alexa shifted uncomfortably, blue eyes darting around the alley for signs of ambush as the boys continued conversing with the OZ official.

"It's up to you guys to decide whether or not you want to believe me," Noin admitted.

"Where is he?" Heero asked, surprising the other gundam pilots.

"You mean you're going to trust her?" Trowa burst out in shock, and Alexa stared down at her old friend in astonishment.

"He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would plant a trap," Heero reasoned, shifting his dark eyes up to meet Alexas' light ones. "What do you think Lex?" The girl pilot shot a wary look at the uniform woman, contemplating about whether or not to keep up her act of playing dumb.

"He let me escape with the gundams main computer," the blond admitted, watching Noin for any reaction. "I'd say this offer is in his own interest, not OZ's. They supposedly had him destroy your gundam weeks ago…" She bit her lip, evaluating their position for a second before nodding to Heero.

"Then it looks like my mobile suit will come in handy," Trowa said, reluctantly giving in to his companions decision.

"Trowa!" Heero and Alexa both gasped at the offer of his gundam while Noin merely smiled at their acceptance.

* * *

Antarctica Base-

"I told you he'd be alive didn't I Noin?" Zechs' tone was full of excitement even though his face on the view screen was impassive.

"Yes, that pilot's got a strong will to live," Noin admitted. "Oh, and she's here too," the dark haired woman added.

"Huh? Her?"

"The pilot you caught stealing the gundam parts," she explained, watching him closely for a reaction. Zechs took a sharp breath, but managed to keep his face calm. "Good thing too," Noin continued when he didn't speak. "If she hadn't been with these boys I doubt we could have tracked her down. I've got those test results too."

"Did you open them?" the blond asked hastily, leaning closer to the screen. Noin shook her head. "Hmm," he murmured, not really focusing on her image on the screen any longer. "Please leave them sealed until you arrive her. Noin, I owe you for all your assistance, and I'm sorry I had to drag you into this."

"Don't forget that I'm the pilot a mobile suit too. So I think I understand your feelings to a certain extent," Noin replied, shrugging her shoulders in non-concern.

"Thank you Noin. And please, watch your step when you're around that search party. Given this situation I won't be able to help you out. You'll have to somehow deceive them all on your own," Zechs' apology was sincere and Noin nodded in understanding.

"I'll take care of it sir, over and out."

_We've got to make the final modifications to 01 before they get here…_ Zechs thought, surveying the technicians already hard as work on repairing the detonated gundam._ This is shaping up to be quite a visit…_ he thought, watching the repairs from behind his face mask. _I will finally be able to finish my battle with that gundam pilot…and that girl…perhaps I can finally make amends for that terrible mistake…_

* * *

Onboard Noins carrier-

"Has the left arm been automatically balanced to account for the extra weight?" Heero asked, sitting in the cockpit of Heavyarms while Trowa sat nearby, helping him learn the control system.

"Nah, I avoided that on purpose," the taller boy replied. "I forced myself to remember the weight difference so that I would have a speed advantage during battle."

"Makes sense," Heero concurred, pulling one of the levers so the gundanium knife flicked out, ready for battle.

"I don't like how she's watching us," Alexa muttered, crawling up the side of the gundam to join the boys. Warily she shot a look over her shoulder to where Noin and a solider were conversing.

"It's only you that she's really watching," Heero replied from down in the cockpit, fingers trailing along the control board as he assessed it. The girl pilot stuck her head over the lip, silently asking him what he meant. "Me and Trowa she watches casually, but you," his eyes shifted up to make sure she was listening, "you she actually studies." Alexa bit at her lower lip in thought, glancing over just in time to see Noin gently push the solider away and walk away, towards the cockpit of the plane.

"Hmm…" she hummed, head cocked for a moment before she slid back to the metal floor.

"Has the shield also been attached to the Gatling arm then?" she heard Heero ask as she padded after the OZ solider.

"Anything to report?" Noins' voice flowed easily through the bare walkway from the cockpit.

"Nothing out of the ordinary Lieutenant."

"Can I fly?" Alexa surprised everyone by asking. The two pilots just stared at her in shock but Noin let out a small laugh.

"I suppose you three could have gotten there just fine without us," the other female said good-naturedly.

"I like flying," the gundam pilot replied simply, gazing out the thick windows with a lack of concern.

"And I suppose you'd like to know where we're going?" one of the pilots glared at her.

"Hey!" Noin snapped at him, drawing herself up into an authoritative stance. "These three are our guests, not our prisoners. Treat them with respect!"

"Yes mam," the two pilots answered begrudgingly, turning back to their controls.

"Come with me," Noin gestured, going back towards the cargo hold but turning instead into the small lounge. "Sorry about that. They're loyal men, but transporting a gundam has really put them on edge. Have a seat." She gestured to the plastic chairs around a small table.

"You don't expect them to sell you out to the rest of OZ?" Alexa asked straight out, watching the other girl intently as she pulled out a chair. "What Zechs is planning sure sounds like treason to OZ to me."

"To Zechs OZ is just a way to help him achieve his goals," Noin shrugged, idily tapping her fingers on the tabletop. "If the organization gets in the way of those goals he has no trouble following his own path."

"Like repairing the gundams," Alexa murmured understandably.

"Yes," Noin agreed. "He's always been that way."

"Care to illuminate?" the gundam pilot inquired, smiling innocently as the dark haired soldier turned to look at her.

"Nice try, but you'll have to find out for yourself," Noin smirked.

"Well at least I tried," Alexa shrugged, getting up and rifling through the cupboards. "Do you have hot cocoa?"

* * *

Onboard Noins Transport-

"I can't have our special guests catch a cold." Noin said cheerfully as she entered the cargo hold, offering white jackets to all the pilots. "Here put these on," Heero struggled with his left arm, grimacing in pain as the bandage grew slightly red from blood.

"Are we there yet?" Alexa piped up quickly, attempting to draw Noins' attention away from such an obvious sign of weakness. The ploy worked and the dark haired solider shifted her gaze to the younger girl. "How about now?" the pilot joked, showing all her teeth in a cheeky grin.

"Where are we headed to anyway?" Trowa interjected in a more adult tone, giving Alexa the smallest of frowns.

"The south pole," Noin answered immediately.

"A mobile suit battle on a continent that's completely covered in ice?" Trowa questioned, finding it hard to believe.

"It's the only place to have a battle and go unnoticed."

"We've got a problem Lieutenant!" one of the soliders shouted as he ran over. "Our craft is being followed by a number of carriers. Mam."

"They've found us!" Noin hissed angrily.

"We spotted them as soon as we reached the continent."

"They calculated our flying range. They must have figured out that we'd be headed for colonel Zechs' base."

"Then we'll throw them off by changing directions!" the common solider jumped quickly to a solution.

"No go!" Noin counted, causing him to halt. "If we got ride of two Aires we'd have enough fuel to lose them, then even if they know the base location we can attack."

"Right!" the man responded with the discipline of training.

"Stop lying" Trowa muttered as the soldier disappeared. "You wouldn't dream of doing anything that would be a burden to Zechs." Noin started in surprise, and Trowas green eyes sparked at the pleasure of reading her so well.

"It wasn't hard to guess," Alexa prodded her gently, just barely keeping a smile in check. "You're risking an awful lot as a favor to a comrade…a comrade who might soon be in OZ's disfavor." Noin let out a small growl as the younger girl chided her.

"You're going on the Aires?" Heero broke in, subtly hinting at Alexa to drop it.

_I'm just trying to get a feel for her_, the girl-pilot grimaced, reluctantly stepping back from the conversation._ I don't like how she keeps evaluating me…What the heck is she so worried about?_

"You'll be totally overpowered by their sheer numbers," Trowa spoke up, glancing at Noin with a calculatingly look.

"My mission is to bring you to the destination safely, the method is up to me alone!" Noin said firmly, glaring at the pilots. Minutes later two suits were dropped and in free fall, before they maneuvered to attack the carriers. One of the Aires suits went down, and Noins' custom suit followed it down, checking on the welfare of her comrade.

"Damn it!" a solider on the bridge cursed. "We have to rescue Lieutenant Noin!"

"That's against orders!" Trowa spoke up, loudly.

"What?" The OZ fighter yelled, glaring venomously at the pilots. "I don't have to take that crap from the likes of you! Turn us around!"

"You're too weak," Trowa frowned at the man as he swung the aircraft around in a sharp arc.

"Enough of this," Alexa spat, suddenly coming up alongside the rebellious soldier and slamming him against the wall. He was bigger and taller than her but she easily kept him against the cold metal. "We'll go back for your stupid Lieutenant, but I'm flying!" The two soldiers exchanged looks of shock at her ferocity before Alexa shoved her way roughly between them. "Why can't they teach soldiers to think instead of just fight?" she complained quietly, sliding behind the jets controls.

"Let me off first," Trowa called when they had swooped around to where Noin had crash-landed. He glared at the two OZ soldiers standing uncomfortably in the narrow hallway, "I will correct the mistakes brought on by your weakness!"

"This thing doesn't really have any weapons huh?" Heeros question was more of statement as he slid into the co-pilots seat.

"Just enough that we can take down another transport or two," Alexa responded, eyes flicking between the information screens. "Do we trust Trowa not to shoot us down on accident?" she joked, causing Heero to let out a snort of laughter. The blond pilot smiled, careful to keep her face pointed away from him. _Looks like the prospect of a battle is cheering him up._ As Trowa battled the mobile suits with his usual shoot them to bits style, the girl pilot deftly maneuvered in and out of the craft that had tailed them; Heero expertly shooting each one down. Finally the entire sky was clear and the two pilots watched silently as Heavyarms walked calmly after the last MS as its pilot struggled to get the damaged machine to move.

"There's a gundam down here!" the pitiful cry broadcasted over the open frequency; a cry for help from a desperate man. Silently Alexa and Heero watched Trowa spin Heavyarms around, his gundanium knife slicing the shattered MS into exploding oblivion.

"Had to be done," Heero muttered matter of factually as they came by for another pass and saw both Trowa and Noin on the snow near the suits.

"Yeah…" Alexa agreed more quietly, slowly getting out of her seat to follow Heero back into the cargo hold. "You can take over again," she told the two pilots nonchalantly. "I've had enough now." The two subordinates nodded uncertainly, nervously looking at one another before dashing into the cockpit as the plane began to nosedive without anyone controlling it.


End file.
